The Spiderwick Chronicles

Freddie Highmore has double the fun in the twin roles of mismatched brothers who find goblins, sprites and fairies – not to mention an evil ogre (Nick Nolte) – at the bottom of the garden of their creepy old house in rural New England. An old-fashioned children’s fantasy adventure, the film starts slowly and ends in a bowl of sugar, but there is plenty of magic, suspense and action, and it never makes the mistake of talking down to its young audience.