Thematically speaking, the film isn't exactly the best. Freddy Highmore is a really damn good actor, so he does a good job at carrying this film. But that's really about my only major complaint as I found the film, its pacing and its acting all fairly solid. It is what it is and I'm sure that the film is somewhat faithful to the book, but the locations of the film really don't do much to inspire a sense of wonderment usually attached to these types of films. But it's just the one scene and it doesn't really even go for that long. There's one scene where a griffin takes the kids to this place that's more fantastical where the author of the field guide has been kept for over 80 years. Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter or even Percy Jackson. The fact that the locations are so mundane particularly when compared to other films in this same genre. The locations are pretty straightforward and simple and, to me, honestly, that's one of the things that does hold this film back. So that's what I meant when I meant it was more lukewarm. It takes place in the 'real' world and the only thing fantasy about it are these mythological creatures that surround the characters who are only seen if they want to be seen or if a hobgoblin spits in your face, which gives you the ability to see them without a special stone that you can see through. What I mean by that is the fact that in a lot of these films, you end up being taken on this epic adventure to a faraway and fantastical land that's unlike anything you would ever see on earth. That's not a derogatory as it may have come across, since I ended up thinking that this was a solid little movie.

Spiderwick chronicles cast