I usually find child actors to be either precocious and annoying or utterly forgettable, so I was surprised when Freddie Highmore struck me as none of those things. I first came across Highmore’s work in the 2004 film Finding Neverland, where he starred opposite of Johnny Depp — and more than held his own — at the age of 12. After that brilliant performance, I started keeping an eye on Highmore’s work and have seen several films specifically because he was in them (August Rush, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Golden Compass).

Now that Highmore is 16, I wondered if he’d have that same amazing magnetism and instant likability that he possessed as a younger kid. I recently rented The Spiderwick Chronicles on DVD to settle that question for myself, and think that yes, there’s still something about this actor that is compelling enough carry a film largely on his own for 90 minutes.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Jared Grace (played by Highmore) is a troubled young kid who has just moved from New York to the relatively isolated Spiderwick Estate with his mother Helen (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brother Simon (Highmore again), and sister Mallory (Sara Bolger). Jared is upset about the move, mostly because father Richard (Andrew McCarthy) won’t be joining them. Jared blames Helen for this, but what he doesn’t know is that Richard has started living with another woman and will never come to Spiderwick to live.

Jared expresses his anger in destructive ways, so he’s often blamed when things go wrong. One night, he gets angry enough to knock a hole in the wall, leading to the discovery of a hidden dumbwaiter. While Mallory and Simon opt to just go to bed, Jared hops on the dumbwaiter to see where it leads.

He ends up in a dusty old study that once belonged to their great-uncle Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn). In searching through the room, Jared uncovers a secret Field Book that was kept under lock and key. The Field Book contains drawings, sketches, potion ingredients, and writings that describe a world full of magical creatures (like goblins and faeries) living in the woods surrounding the Spiderwick Estate.

Jared also meets a tiny creature (a “brownie”) named Thimbletack (Martin Short) who is appalled that Jared has opened the book. Apparently, it’s very dangerous to possess the knowledge that’s in the Field Guide because the evil ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) would do anything to get his hands on the information from the book so he can become absolute ruler of the faerie world. Thimbletack then gives Jared a special monocle that allows him to see the invisible goblins surrounding the house, leading to the astonishing realization that there are many of these creatures lurking about.

Jared soon lets Simon and Mallory in on the secret, and the rest of the film then shows the trio working on a plan to fortify the house against invasion and attempting to destroy the book before Mulgarath can get his hands on it. They get help from old Aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright), who has been locked away in a sanatorium for many years, as well as their mother and a few magical creatures and emerge triumphant in the end.

My Reaction: I was expecting The Spiderwick Chronicles to be somewhat boring, considering the fact that preteens seem to be the target audience. So I was surprised at how interesting and entertaining the film was. The storyline was actually somewhat easy to grasp (which is saying a lot, since many of these fantasy/adventure films go in for the most convoluted plots the writers can come up with), and the director avoided many of the clichés that ordinarily plague these kinds of movies.

For instance, I liked the way Simon and Mallory believed Jared’s story about the goblins almost immediately. Yes, Simon had no choice, as he was captured by them before he knew what was going on, and Mallory resisted a bit at first. But in other films, these types of scenes would have been dragged out all through the second act, and would only have been resolved at the beginning of Act Three when the main protagonist gets everyone on board with his plan.

The mom was a bit different, as she did follow the established pattern of the non-believing adult figure. But again, she converted rather quickly, so the audience was spared a bunch of repetitive scenes.

Freddie Highmore was pretty good in his roles here. Not great, but not too bad either. His attempt at an American accent noticeably failed in some places, but other than that, I thought he was a good choice for Simon/Jared. This was the kind of movie that could have turned out very differently (in a bad way) if the casting decisions had been off, so I’m glad Highmore was able to pull this off.

Overall, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a film that can be enjoyed by older children (10+) and adults alike, making it a nice change of pace from animated features. I give it 4 stars out of 5, and recommend that you check it out on your next family movie night!