MkGenie Polaris

By Keen Zhang
zhangr@china.org.cn

我推荐这部电影。现在只在北京华星UME有映，因为是IMAX版。

The Spiderwick Chronicles, basically, is a successful adaptation of the children's book series, written by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

Year after year, Hollywood seems desperate to find the next Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, so the studios constantly bet on fantasy books such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon, His Dark Materials, Bridge to Terabithia, and even Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, none of them has earned the accolades and financial rewards received by the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

The Nickelodeon movie The Spiderwick Chronicles also won't cut it financially. According to Boxofficemojo.com, its domestic office gross in the United States was only US$70 million, with another US$74 million in revenue generated from around the world.

But if you can put aside the numbers, you'll find The Spiderwick Chronicles absolutely wondrous. Children's movies can be simple and foolish. Actors' performances can be flat, such as those given in the first installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, the targeted audience of young juveniles is unable to discern whether a film is good or bad. Nevertheless, The Spiderwick Chronicles is outstanding example of just how good and interesting a children's movie can be.

Frankly speaking, the movie, which congregates nearly all the major plots from 5 books, has nothing outstanding in the screenplay. A broken family moves into an old house with a huge secret, and then gets involved in an escapism-like fantasy adventure that eventually heals their pain and opens their hearts to each other while fighting against pure evil. How cliché a storyline is that!

But with the help of gorgeous CGI visual effects contributed by the ILM and Tippett Studio, combined with colorful cinematography that presents details throughout each scene, as well as the funny, eye-popping designs of the faeries and goblins, Director Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls) has transformed this film into a non-stop, fast-paced, children's action adventure that simply takes your breath away and never lavishes any time on "tender moments" as do other family movies. The score composed by veteran James Honor adds an epic touch to the traditional kids' bedtime story. And the child star Freddie Highmore really surprised me by playing two major roles in the film: the twin brothers Jared Grace and Simon Grace, giving an emotional and powerful interpretation to each character.

Don't miss out on this film, possibly one of the best family-fantasy movies in years.

The Spiderwick Chronicles finally made it through into the Chinese market two months after it premiered in the United States. However, it enters solely in the IMAX version, undoubtedly enhancing the already abundant visual feast. Currently the movie is only screening at Beijing's UME International Cineplex but it may soon be screened at other UME cinema divisions in some other cities around China.

China limits annual imports of foreign films. Only 20 foreign films, mostly from Hollywood, will be allowed into the Chinese market after Chinese film officials review a film's content and market potential.

Thus far, the UME has been the only cinema chain in China boasting IMAX format, but very few Chinese people can enjoy the ultimate experience since there are so few cinemas in China that can afford the lavish IMAX screening halls. As such, IMAX versions can also "fortunately" ignore the Chinese movie import limit.

IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film format created by Canada's IMAX Corporation that can display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film screening systems. A standard IMAX screen is 72.6 foot wide and 52.8 foot high, but some are even larger. Director Michael Bay said IMAX represents the future of cinema when he cut an IMAX version for his robot sci-fi action movie Transformers. The movie's IMAX copy was also imported into China by UME in October, 2007.

Official trailer on YouTube.com

(China.org.cn April 25, 2008)