Jared, Simon, and Mallory are children of divorce, packed up along with mom (Mary-Louise Parker) to a large, decaying country house owned by their family (because of course no-one would have dreamed of actually selling such real estate). There’s a small town nearby, but even though it’s small, it also has a huge “sanitorium” — given the context in the movie, it should actually be a sanitarium, for the delusional, rather than sanitorium, for the chronically sick. Regardless, it’s for crazy people in this context, and the fact that it’s so big in a town so small should be a huge red flag.
It’s probably worth mentioning at this point that the movie opens with David Strathairn, of all the people to find in such a movie (John Sayles did some work on the script, so that explains that), working in a room full of skulls and things in jars, making overly startled expressions. It seems he is Mr. Spiderwick, and he has discovered all sorts of invisible magical creatures living in the surrounding countryside. Impressed, he compiled everything he learned about them into a book, which then becomes a dangerous possession, because a Nick Nolte-voiced ogre named Mulgarath want the knowledge contained therein in order to rule the world.
The full review can be read here
