Some friends of mine were going to the cinema the other evening to watch The Spiderwick Chronicles, and having heard generally positive reviews of the film, I went along to see it.

The film is based on the series of five books written by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, which were published in smallish hardbacks similar to those by Lemony Snicket. I haven’t read them, so I won’t be able to complain “It’s not as good as the book!” (though it probably isn’t).

It was a decent piece of entertainment, with some good action and excitement, nice monsters and creatures that weren’t all pinched from Lord of the Rings, and some refreshingly true-to-life sibling bickering.

It had its weaknesses, though, such the nebulous nature of the threat. We repeatedly told that if the villainous Mulgrath succeeded in getting his hands on the Field Guide, then he’d be able to use it to kill everyone, but it was never explained how exactly. With no explanation of how he actually intended to use the Book, the film became a simple game of “Chase the MacGuffin”, and the themes of the power, danger and responsibility of knowledge remained sadly underdeveloped.

The ending was also a little unsatisfying, combining both anticlimax and Hollywood sentimentality. In all, a pleasing enough way to spend a couple of hours, but not really worth going to see in the cinema.