The Big Picture

Roku’s
The Spiderwick Chronicles
stands on its own without needing viewers to be previously familiar with the book series.
The entire cast turns in great performances, and the visual effects are remarkable and realistic.
The level of horror feels inconsistent with the younger tone of the series at times, and the Grace family conflict gets drawn out in occasionally frustrating ways.

It’s been a long time coming for fans of The Spiderwick Chronicles, as the series finally makes its long-awaited debut this week. Just under a year ago, the completed series was dropped by Disney+ before thankfully being acquired by the Roku Channel. The series, all eight episodes of which are available to stream starting April 19, is a terrific young adult fantasy adventure that incorporates just enough horror elements to keep things interesting. Under showrunner Aron Eli Coleite and director Kat Coiro, it updates the story where necessary, but most importantly, never loses sight of the spirit of the Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi book series on which it is based.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2024) Follows the Grace family as they move from Brooklyn, New York, to their ancestral home in Henson, Michigan, the Spiderwick Estate.Release Date April 19, 2024 Cast Christian Slater , Lyon Daniels , Noah Cottrell , Joy Bryant , Mychala Lee , Jack Dylan Grazer Seasons 1 Creator(s) Aron Eli Coleite Writers Aron Eli Coleite Streaming Service(s) The Roku Channel Showrunner Aron Eli Coleite

What Is ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ About?
In The Spiderwick Chronicles, twins Simon (Noah Cottrell) and Jared (Lyon Daniels) move with their sister Mallory (Mychala Lee) and their mother Helen (Joy Bryant) to their ancestral home, Spiderwick. The Grace family is seeking a fresh start, and more importantly, seeking help for Jared, who has been getting into trouble at school with increasingly concerning behavior. There is a specialist in the area, Dr. Brauer, that Helen is hopeful will be able to get to the root of Jared’s problems.

Fortunately, for those who are not familiar with the original book series — or those who, like me, read them two decades ago and don’t remember much beyond broad strokes — Roku’s The Spiderwick Chronicles doesn’t rely on any pre-existing knowledge of the story. There are no gaps in the narrative where the writers hope the audience’s memory will fill in the blanks. For all that it is based on the world first created by Black and DiTerlizzi, The Spiderwick Chronicles stands remarkably on its own as a fantasy series.

‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ Leans Into More Horror Than the Books

The original Spiderwick books follow a plot that eventually pieces together, so the reader can see how the seemingly separate events were part of a larger story, but the wisest decision the series makes is to do away with the episodic format of the books in favor of a serialized story. Rather than confronting the beings from the “invisible world” in a creature-of-the-week style adventure, the Grace siblings have one mystery to unravel — the secrets of their Great Aunt Lucinda (Charlayne Woodard), the field guide written by her father Arthur Spiderwick (Albert Jones), and the boggart named Thimbletack (Jack Dylan Grazer), who lives in their house. At the same time, the threat from Mulgarath (Christian Slater) and his associate Calliope (Alyvia Alyn Lind) continues to grow, folding into the siblings’ struggles.

As far as villains go, Slater’s Mulgarath is equal parts menacing and smooth. His character comes from the tradition of villains where the means might be gruesome — and they are gruesome, more on that momentarily — but it’s easy to understand why he feels this is his only option. He’s not a villain for the sake of villainy, but rather, like all the best-written ones, a villain whose motivations are clear. He is scary in how not-scary he is, through how he draws his victims in with mild manners and smiles. The chemistry Slater shares with Bryant’s Helen is also palpable and puts an interesting, more grown-up spin on one of the plot points from the book, letting the actor make full use of that leading-man charm he’s exhibited for decades.

That more grown-up approach really is the defining trait of the series as a whole. The Grace siblings are all aged up from their book counterparts, and more embedded with their local peers. With older protagonists, too, comes the ability to tell more grown-up stories, and lean harder into the horror side of things which the show embraces with a gleeful enthusiasm — between this and The Last of Us, I am never looking at a mushroom again — and some stunning special effects and make-up work. While the show’s elements never fully crossed the line into proper body horror territory, they were definitely bumping up against the boundaries of my admittedly low horror tolerance and sometimes felt jarring against the younger tone of the rest of the story.

‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ Strongest Focus Is on the Grace Family, for Better or Worse

If there is one thing I often find grating about sibling dynamics on-screen, it’s when they don’t behave in a way that any real siblings would. Admittedly, that’s a hard line to walk. I’d need about 20 minutes to explain any one of my inside jokes with my brother, and that kind of thing isn’t conducive to good TV. Instead, The Spiderwick Chronicles chooses to bake the Grace sibling dynamics into the fabric of the larger plot going on. They love each other, that much is obvious, and they want to support each other, but they aren’t always necessarily kind to one another. Simon and Mallory love Jared and want him to get better, but are equally frustrated and resentful that his struggles are the reason they had to leave home in the first place. For his part, Jared grows increasingly frustrated that as supernatural things unfold around him, his family doesn’t seem to ever really hear him or believe him.

This is an interesting approach to the conversation around mental health, as many can relate to the experience of being unable to express the true scope of one’s thoughts to those who ostensibly want to help. But unfortunately, this also becomes a source of frustration for the audience. It would be one thing if Jared were the only one who witnessed and experienced the supernatural goings-on. But he isn’t, which means it’s very frustrating to watch his family continually insist that this is because he’s troubled and lashing out, instead of attributing it to the supernatural events they have also witnessed. That said, the show does add a compelling subplot about mental health care and the way people weaponize that care against the people who need it most. It also allows the three siblings to have subplots and interests of their own, building them into three distinct characters with their own motivations, as opposed to a generic group of kids with little more than a single descriptor to differentiate them.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is an excellent example of how to take beloved source material and adapt it for a new generation and demographic. Though it does stumble in places, the series is overall satisfying and self-contained — with space for another season, should it get renewed — and is an adventure worth watching, either for younger viewers looking for a slightly more grown-up tale or older audiences who enjoy their adventures with a nostalgic feel.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2024) REVIEWThe Spiderwick Chronicles is an engaging adaptation of the popular series that ups the horror and the family drama.ProsThe series stands on its own and doesn’t rely on previous familiarity with the books.The entire cast turns in great performances.The visual effects are remarkable and realistic. ConsThe tone of the horror feels inconsistent in places.The family conflict gets drawn out in sometimes frustrating ways.

The Spiderwick Chronicles premieres on Roku on April 19.

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