The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008 American dark fantasy adventure film directed by Mark Waters from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, and John Sayles, based on the book series The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

It stars Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker and Sarah Bolger, with Nick Nolte, Seth Rogen, and Martin Short in voice roles.

The film, set in the Spiderwick Estate in New England, follows three children who discover a field guide to fairies while encountering various magical creatures such as goblins, ogres, brownies, boggarts, hobgoblins, trolls and many others.

The Spiderwick Chronicles received generally positive reviews from critics, with Highmore's dual performance being singled out for praise.

Eighty years later, recently divorced Helen Grace inherits and moves into the abandoned Spiderwick estate with her children, daughter Mallory and twin sons Jared and Simon.

She tells the children that they need to find her father and have him destroy the book and that, for eighty years, Arthur has been held captive by the sylphs.

Arthur informs Jared that the sylphs will not allow them to leave as they, like him, know too much about the fairies and do not want them to reveal their existence to the world.

Jared tosses the Book and Mulgarath transforms into a raven to catch it, but he is suddenly grabbed and eaten by Hogsqueal.

The site's critical consensus reads: "The Spiderwick Chronicles is an entertaining children's adventure, with heart and imagination to spare.

"[14] Despite some negative reviews for the film overall, Highmore was generally praised for his dual role as the twins Simon and Jared.

One critic said that he "skillfully portrays two distinctive personas,"[15] another said he "[had] no trouble grasping the task at hand,"[16] and a third remarked that, "the most special effect is probably Highmore".

[17] Roger Ebert gave it three and half stars on four and said: "The Spiderwick Chronicles is a terrific entertainment for the whole family, except those below a certain age, who are likely to be scared out of their wits.

But what will cause nightmares for younger kids will delight older ones, since The Spiderwick Chronicles is a well-crafted family thriller that is truly scary and doesn't wimp out.

[20] In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $19 million in 3,847 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 behind Jumper at the box office.

In August 2023, it was announced that the already completed series would no longer be airing on Disney+ due to cost cutting reasons, but it would be shopped to other studios.

[25] It was released, shortly before the film's opening, on February 5, 2008, for Nintendo DS, Wii, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2, and rated Everyone (E10+) by the ESRB.