An inherited Gothic monstrosity in the countryside, newly occupied by a fatherless family from the Big Apple, houses a secret chamber and a sealed book, never meant to be read, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. The build-up (scrabbly sounds in the walls, a plastered-over dumbwaiter, a warning written in dust) holds promise, but the promise dissipates with the materialization: a kit and caboodle of butt-ugly CG beings — sprites, sylphs, fairies, a dragon-sized griffin, a honey-loving brownie, toadlike goblins vulnerable to tomato sauce, and the shape-shifting Ogre, Mulgarath, the anti-Shrek, who could somehow rule the world if he could possess the book. Saccharine family fare based on the kiddie-lit series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. With Freddie Highmore (as twins), Mary-Louise Parker, Sarah Bolger, Joan Plowright, and David Strathairn; directed by Mark Waters. (2008) — Duncan Shepherd
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