Spiderwick Chronicles

"Spiderwick Chronicles"
Directed by Mark Waters

Another children's fantasy series turned film. Unlike Eragon, which I didn't like very much (I couldn't even get through the book either), I found myself enjoying this film. My daughter, Allison (who has read all the Spiderwick books), and I went out to see it. We both had different expectations: I had never read the books and the bar was very low. Allison had, like I said already, read the books and was already skeptical that they shoved all five books into one 97 minute movie. While she says she enjoyed her date with dad, she also said she wasn't as impressed with the movie as she had wanted to be. That happens a lot when you've read a book first.
I, on the other hand-with my expectations set low, found the film to be paced well, written fairly well, acted out well, and was original enought that it was not distracting. It was quite entertaining and engaging. While there were elements that felt Potter-esque and bits of Lewis and Tolkien here and there, there was still enough original thought and story that I wasn't constantly going "Yep, there's Rowling's work stolen...and there's Tolkien..." I did do that through Eragon-which, by the way, is almost the exact same plot line as Star Wars. Call me sometime and I'll give you my thoughts on that.
Anyway, a good family fantasy film. Check it out.