Spiderwick Chronicles, The (DVD Review)

22 Jun, 2008 By: Maxine Donnelly

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Street 6/24/08
Paramount
Fantasy
Box Office $71.2 million
$29.99 DVD, $36.99 two-DVD set, $39.99 Blu-ray
Rated ‘PG’ for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements.
Stars Freddie Highmore, Mary Louise Parker, Sarah Bolger, David Strathairn, Nick Nolte. Voices of Seth Rogen, Martin Short.

The Spiderwick Chronicles isn’t your average fantasy movie. Consequently, the bonus features aren’t your run-of-the-mill director interviews either.

Most people in my early teen age group, myself included, find a director droning on about various actors unutterably dull. In fact, I don’t know of anyone who likes that.

But, as I said before, the bonus features for this movie are very different. For one thing, they keep up the illusion that all of these fantastic things really happened to someone. They detail how to keep yourself safe from these imaginary creatures and whether they can be helpful or harmful. Personally, I felt like I could just stumble upon something magical any second. Very few movies make me feel that way, much less bonus features.

Another thing I liked about these features was that you saw everything; the use of CGI to make the special effects; the actors talking about their experiences in making the film; a look at the the authors  (Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi) of the books the film is based on; the amazing sets; the list goes on and on.

Speaking of the actors’ experiences, these added a great deal to my enjoyment of the special features. Everything from learning to fence to learning American accents is described, sometimes with hilarious results.

The bonus features for The Spiderwick Chronicles are purely magical, and add greatly to the understanding and enjoyment of the film.
 

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