Modern day children’s fantasy films, usually adapted from books, always include most elements found in any fairytale of old and The Spiderwick Chronicles is no exception. Mallory (Sarah Bolger), Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore) Grace are a trio of siblings who have just moved into their crazy aunt’s creepy house with their mother. As expected, this home houses some incredibly out of this world creatures. What follows is an exciting and refreshing adventure that’s shorter (and less melodramatic) than another Harry Potter film.

Upon arrival in said residence, Jared’s continual temper tantrums cause him to escape the company of the rest of his family. He seeks shelter in a hidden attic where he finds a book with a serious warning against opening it. This wouldn’t be a film though if he didn’t open it, right? The consequences don’t matter. This book - Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You - opens his mind to that which he could not see before. The existence of faeries and other such creatures is real.

There are rules to this guide and how said creatures present themselves. You can’t just read this book and expect to start seeing things instantaneously. Jared soon learns however, that there are quite a few ways to indeed see them. The first rule is that they can only show themselves if they want you to see them. Then there is the infamous seeing stone, which allows you to see them whenever you want. There is a third way as well, as isn’t quite fully described, but somehow works in context. If a fairy spits in your eye, you are then granted the sight to see them all the time.

The Spiderwick Chronicles isn’t so much an adaptation of a single book from the series. It simply incorporates all of the books into one film. For a film merging elements from 5 books, it never feels as if something is missing. On the contrary, it’s rather complete.

Director Mark Waters (The House of Yes, Mean Girls) shapes the tone of the film almost like that of a Joe Dante (Gremlins) movie. Especially the last half, when various goblins surround the Spiderwick house, and the kids arm themselves with a rather strange brew that destroys them.

I can’t say I was too excited to see this film. The Harry Potter films (and books for that matter) fail to capture my imagination, as do The Chronicles of Narnia. The Spiderwick Chronicles, however, turned out to be an incredibly engaging surprise. It has all the elements of a childhood fantasy you could ever want - like flying creatures, mythical books with elaborate illustrations, the rusty voice of Nick Nolte, and even a touch a creature gore (enough to keep the rating down PG anyway) - and then some.