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Reviews
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2024)
Enjoyable Show, Diverges from the Books but a Fun Fantasy
Overall, this is a fun, aged up take on the original books-it expands a lot on the original stories, in new, interesting ways. The kids' actors do a good job, despite a slightly milquetoast first 20 minutes of sibling cooperation (fortunately this soon breaks down and the kids bicker as they did in the books, with a little extra on top).
For fans of the books, you might have some complaints - most importantly, aging up Jared, Simon, and Mallory. The kids also seem to have a better relationship with each other-except the troubled Jared. Personally, I think aging up the kids makes the show a little more adult and a little less wondrous, which is the biggest change.
But, as a fan of the books, this is fun, and a nice take on the general premise of the books.
The enemies have a reasonable fairy motivation, the subplots for Mallory and Jared are interesting (and rather necessary to make a kids book into a TV show), and the cast is believable once they settle in.
I'll go ahead and say Lucinda is my favorite character.