spiderwick movie
I read the 4th spiderwick book, and now that I've recovered enough from my illnes to get out of bed, I searched for infos about the upcoming movie
I discovered the spiderwick chronicles about a year ago, when I was browsing trough children's books in a big bookstore. I think the reason these books caught my attention out of so many was because the texture and colors of the covers were kind of different than most of the others, and I felt like I just found something personal. As I examined the cover better, I realized that the drawings in it were done by Tony DiTerlizzi, to whom I was introduced by an aquaintance of mine. I never was a big fan of DiTerlizzi, even though I love book illustrations, most of his stuff just looked way too kitschy, or too plastic. But the black&white drawings of his in the spiderwick books totally captured me at the moment I saw them, and there were tons of drawings, so I decided I'd even buy these books just for the drawings alone. So I bought the first two books. When I read them, I realized that the Spiderwick Chronicles is no less and no more of what I expected of them: it's just you very average children's fantay/adventure story, but what I really appreciate in this series is that it doesn't want to seem more that what it really is. (like, Narnia, or the Golden Compass, for exapmle which I couldn't even finish, because they were so boring and annoying) Also, it brings back good old memories from the times I spent at my grandmother's village as a child, searching for secrets, just like the Grace siblings do in the books. Another thing that appeals to me in spiderwick is is the old victorian feel in the modern world. Now that I've read the series up to book 4, all that is left is the last one, and then I can watch the movie:D Holly Black and DiTerlizzi started a new spiderwick series, but I'm not really interested in that.
So, about the movie. First here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJxKDLF0nVo&feature=related
Well, the actors don't look like the characters at all, especially Mallory, who seems to be blonde(?) while she's black in the books, but for some reason I don't find that annoying. Maybe because the characters aren't really strong in personality, so changes in their appearance doesn't hurt them. For those of you who don't know, the three main characters are: Jared and Simon,(aged 9) the two twins, and their older sister, Mallory.(aged 13, but in the drawings she looks like 20+) Jared is your typicial troubled child, who would rather act first and ask questions later, has behaviour problems, and gets himself in trouble with the school all the time. His twin brother Simon is an animal-geek, and is more of a good boy than Jared, although he doesn't need help either when it comes to mischief. Out of the three main characters, I like Mallory the least, who is kind of annoying whith her "I just hit puberty" kind of behaviour. She's loud and rude, but most of the time not in a funny way.
Anyway, back to the movie. The visual effects look so-so. The creatures look like they came from a 3d pixar movie, which looks strange next to realy life people. But I guess it could be worse. The overall visual world of the movie looks kind of kitschy, but I like Peter Pan(2003) too, so this shouldn't be a problem for me:D They say it will be released in us on the 15th of February, so it will take abour 3-4 months to get here. I'd like to see it, so I hopw it will be soon. But first I still have to read the 5th book.
EDIT: I just found out that the the movie will be here in March. And there's already a hungarian version of the trailer. Cool.
I discovered the spiderwick chronicles about a year ago, when I was browsing trough children's books in a big bookstore. I think the reason these books caught my attention out of so many was because the texture and colors of the covers were kind of different than most of the others, and I felt like I just found something personal. As I examined the cover better, I realized that the drawings in it were done by Tony DiTerlizzi, to whom I was introduced by an aquaintance of mine. I never was a big fan of DiTerlizzi, even though I love book illustrations, most of his stuff just looked way too kitschy, or too plastic. But the black&white drawings of his in the spiderwick books totally captured me at the moment I saw them, and there were tons of drawings, so I decided I'd even buy these books just for the drawings alone. So I bought the first two books. When I read them, I realized that the Spiderwick Chronicles is no less and no more of what I expected of them: it's just you very average children's fantay/adventure story, but what I really appreciate in this series is that it doesn't want to seem more that what it really is. (like, Narnia, or the Golden Compass, for exapmle which I couldn't even finish, because they were so boring and annoying) Also, it brings back good old memories from the times I spent at my grandmother's village as a child, searching for secrets, just like the Grace siblings do in the books. Another thing that appeals to me in spiderwick is is the old victorian feel in the modern world. Now that I've read the series up to book 4, all that is left is the last one, and then I can watch the movie:D Holly Black and DiTerlizzi started a new spiderwick series, but I'm not really interested in that.
So, about the movie. First here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJxKDLF0nVo&feature=related
Well, the actors don't look like the characters at all, especially Mallory, who seems to be blonde(?) while she's black in the books, but for some reason I don't find that annoying. Maybe because the characters aren't really strong in personality, so changes in their appearance doesn't hurt them. For those of you who don't know, the three main characters are: Jared and Simon,(aged 9) the two twins, and their older sister, Mallory.(aged 13, but in the drawings she looks like 20+) Jared is your typicial troubled child, who would rather act first and ask questions later, has behaviour problems, and gets himself in trouble with the school all the time. His twin brother Simon is an animal-geek, and is more of a good boy than Jared, although he doesn't need help either when it comes to mischief. Out of the three main characters, I like Mallory the least, who is kind of annoying whith her "I just hit puberty" kind of behaviour. She's loud and rude, but most of the time not in a funny way.
Anyway, back to the movie. The visual effects look so-so. The creatures look like they came from a 3d pixar movie, which looks strange next to realy life people. But I guess it could be worse. The overall visual world of the movie looks kind of kitschy, but I like Peter Pan(2003) too, so this shouldn't be a problem for me:D They say it will be released in us on the 15th of February, so it will take abour 3-4 months to get here. I'd like to see it, so I hopw it will be soon. But first I still have to read the 5th book.
EDIT: I just found out that the the movie will be here in March. And there's already a hungarian version of the trailer. Cool.