"The Spiderwick Chronicles" reeks of familiarity from the get go. The story begins with a quarelsome family moving into a mansion. The young teen boy (Jared) of the family winds up finding a secret book that has a warning label on it stating that it should not be opened. Of course, Jared ignores the warning and opens the book anyway. As a result, Jared and his family must try to protect the book from falling into an evil shapeshifting ogre's hands or else all hell will break loose.

I'm not sure why 'Spiderwick' was even made to be honest. Granted, every studio is always trying to find a new possible franchise, but studios should know by now that fantasy is the hardest genre to get right. Only a scant few recent films like the "Lord Of The Rings" series and the "Harry Potter" films have managed to become hits with audiences. Sadly, 'Spiderwick' is another failure. The script is simply too predictable and is filled with weak characters and lame plot devices such as tomato sauce killing ogres. I will say that the scary CGI ogres are top notch, but they are far too violent and creepy for younger children to see.

Normally, I would praise Freddie Highmore as he is one of the best young actors, but he's slumming it here playing twin brothers. After seeing what he can do in "Finding Neverland," I'm curious as to why he tackled a cliched teen part. Maybe he wanted a change of pace?