Eighty year earlier, he had become obsessed with cataloguing all of the strange creatures he had discovered living in both the surrounding wounds and inside the house. Yet, his findings became ever more dangerous, eventually leading to his disappearance while saving his young daughter from those beings. With no one believing her account of what happened to her father, the now 80-something Lucinda (JOAN PLOWRIGHT) has spent most of her life institutionalized.
With Jared rebelling over the uprooting of their family, he doesn't pay heed to warnings on Arthur's old field journal not to open it. Nor does he pay attention to a more recent warning written in some dust, directly addressed to him. All of which greatly worries "brownie" house faerie Thimbletack (voice of MARTIN SHORT), a tiny being prone to blowing up like a puffer fish when irritated.
The appointed keeper of the journal and its secrets, he knows that no good will come of Jared opening it. Indeed, his doing so has awakened the goblins that reside in the adjacent woods and work for Mulgarath (NICK NOLTE), a shape-shifting ogre that wants the field journal as Arthur's previous findings could make him all-powerful.
With the help of bird-eating hobgoblin Hogsqueal (voice of SETH ROGEN), the kids eventually realize what they've unleashed as well as what's at stake, and then set out to prevent Mulgarath and his minions from gaining possession of the journal.
Fantasy-based violence includes various goblins and a much larger monster attacking and trying to kill kids and others, with some of those goblins meeting their demise at the end of swords and an explosion of tomato sauce (that's deadly to them). Some of that has greenish gooey results, while those scenes, the appearance of the monsters, and various moments of potential peril (most involving kids) could be rather intense, suspenseful, and/or the stuff of nightmares for very young viewers.
Some behavior might be enticing for imitation, while the various villains and the main character have bad attitudes. Tense family material is present, stemming from a parental breakup, as well as a long-missing father for another, now much older woman.
Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.
For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, a flashlight spins round and round in a scene early in the film.
For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's a flying scene looking down from great heights (and the ground zipping by might induce that reaction).
All Rights Reserved,
(2008) (Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger) (PG)
Alcohol/
DrugsBlood/Gore
Disrespectful/
Bad AttitudeFrightening/
Tense ScenesGuns/
Weapons
None
Moderate
Extreme
*Heavy
Moderate
Imitative
BehaviorJump
ScenesMusic
(Scary/Tense)Music
(Inappropriate)Profanity
Mild
Minor
Extreme
None
Mild
Sex/
NuditySmoking
Tense Family
ScenesTopics To
Talk AboutViolence
None
None
Heavy
Heavy
Heavy
CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.
(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).
Reviewed February 5, 2008 / Posted February 14, 2008
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