Reviewed by Alicia Glass
Based on the 2003 book series from Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi, Roku Channel presents us with a brand new TV show sendup of The Spiderwick Chronicles!
We are graced (sorry for the pun) first with a trailer for the new show, which of course introduces us to the ever-amazing Christian Slater as main bad guy the ogre Mulgarath, his Fetch Calliope (Alyvia Alyn Lind), and the main family of the story, the Graces. And then of course nothing would be do but for us here at Wondercon 2024 to sit back and enjoy the showing of the very first episode of The Spiderwick Chronicles!
So, meet the Graces – sister Mallory (Mychala Lee) with her fencing rig and future life plans; fraternal twins Simon (Noah Cottrell) and Jared (Lyon Daniels), who is unintentionally the cause of this entire move to another state and the old Spiderwick House; and mom Helen (Joy Bryant), fresh off a divorce and trying to create a new life here in a new place, while dealing with her troublesome kids and a potential strange family legacy inside Spiderwick House!
Crazy old great aunt Lucinda (Charlayne Woodard), who used to live in Spiderwick House, has long held the family reputation for being, well, crazy, suffering visions of things that simply aren’t there, aren’t real. Right? Because things like hungry ogres and mischievous fairies don’t actually exist. Things like new psychiatrist evaluations, giant multiple-story house renovations, and thieving accusations, these are the reality, the norm, and let’s face it, the mundane. For someone like Jared, who’s beginning to be touched by crazy old Lucinda’s legacy of Seeing things that aren’t really there, at least for those without the Sight, the mundane is utterly boring, while being shoved headfirst into the Other world, where creatures such as Thimbletack (Jack Dylan Grazer) actually do exist, is almost vindication.
Even bloodthirsty ogres with plans for utterly destroying humanity have to bow to real-world necessities like a cover story, a place to live and eat without the cops being called, and oh yeah, a job. And while Helen is hopeful that Jared’s new psychiatrist will be able to help him, Jared himself scoffs at the idea. How’s that for a recipe for an utterly magical, whimsical, and totally epic disaster?
The Spiderwick Chronicles premieres all episodes of Season 1 on April 19th 2024, on the Roku Channel!