Great Fantasy, Could be Stressful for Kids
Parent, Fantasy Fan, Movie Lover
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FEB
28
2008
Spiderwick Chronicles —
There are many good things, good plot, good character development, good graphics, good moral. I enjoyed the film and was pleasantly suprised. It was pretty intense for children though. This is a Nickelodeon Production and as such, I expected to see a children's film, so my review is from the point of view of a parent.Spiderwick Chronicles did not feel so much like a children's film because of the realism and intensity. I don't remember profanity or any of the things that frequent so many films, but the situations these kids are facing are some that many will feel strongly about. The parents in the story have just split up and one of the children is blaming the Mom and expecting Dad to come back. This character is in the process of finding out that Dad moved in with another woman and that his parents are not going to get back together. He yells "I hate you " at his mother. The intensity of a real life nightmare is mirrored by a fantasy nightmare. At the same time all of the the children find themselves in a fight for their lives with creatures no one else can see. I can see how children might become stressed by watching. The difference between this and something like Harry Potter is that the tough situation the kids are facing is so real before the plot goes off into fantasyland.
I may be a little on the conservative side. I am one of those people who was a little dumbfounded by the whole PG-13 thing. The film that triggered the rating did not, in my opinion, earn an in-between category. Reaching into someone's chest and pulling out their heart with your bear hands is R-rated in my book, and there was really no need to come up with a new category of rating for that. And, I do feel that the PG rating on this film is completely appropriate, just that it seriously means parental guidance, and if there is a divorce underway or one that has happened recently, I'd wait a year or two and see it on video.
Last edited on May 19, 2008
Spiderwick Chronicles is recommended by Rainmaker
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