Another middling, thrill-neutral salvo of ‘Potter’-lite CG goblins and fairies in which three tenacious teens are forced to shield their secluded pastoral mansion from an attack by the evil ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte, who else?).

To achieve this, they must follow the lunatic scribblings of their late, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick, a reclusive naturalist who dedicated his life to chronicling all of the fantastical gubbins that arose from the forest surrounding his estate. Angel-faced Brit Freddie Highmore puts on a passable yank accent for a dual central role as the angular Jared and his dorky twin Simon, with the pair dashing from one situation of mild peril to the next.

If they’d bothered to read the book from cover to cover in the beginning, they would have been able to extricate themselves from their predicament with relative ease. Instead, their hurried, intermittent dipping-in of the text means that the baddies are constantly allowed to gather their bearings and develop a new way of attacking them. Pesky kids.

Director: Mark Waters

Time Out Rating: 2/6

Source: Time Out London Issue 1961 March 20-26 2008