The Spiderwick Chronicles [Blu-ray]

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

The Skinny: Three kids from a broken marriage move into a spooky house with their mom and unleash a barrage of goblins, faeries, and other weird crap. Yep, we rolled our eyes at first, too, but it's more Pan's Labyrinth and Zathura than Harry Potter, Narnia, or The Golden Compass. (That means it's good.)

The Good: First, any kid's movie with Nick Nolte as the main villain has our complete confidence (he was born to scare children). It's set in modern times, unlike those other "far away worlds" that have become obligatory for these types of flicks. You don't need any of the backstory from the books to follow along. At an hour and a half it's short and to the point, which is all we require from movies about the fantastical world. (Are you listening, Lord of the Rings?)

The Bad: It's got the standard stupid names for goblins and ogres (Thimbletack and Mulgarath? Come on!). It's a bit young at times, so you may feel dorky for liking it.

Best Extra: The best aspect is how amazing it looks in HD, plus these Blu-ray discs are loaded with extras. The downside is that many of them are geared toward tweens, so after watching a few you'll most likely want to move on with your life.