After a parental split, twin brothers, Jared and Simon, and thier sister, Mallory, move into the rundown Spiderwick Estate with their mother. The curious Jared begins exploring the house and finds a secret laboratory, where he comes upon a large homebound book entitled Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You with a note on the front that reads “Do not open if you fear for your life”, or something to that effect. Jared, being the dubious adolescent that he is, opens it anyway. By doing so, he pulls himself and his siblings into an alternate world with faries, goblins and other fantastical creatures. This alternate reality is on the verge of war and by having access to the complete knowledge of this world, Jared becomes a pivotal force in the war, with only his family for support.
While the film itself lacked the epic quality of other recent fantasy films such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, it was still a nice brief release from reality. It also reinstilled that childlike magic of believing that faries and other creatures/spirits are living right around us, we just have to be patient and willing in order to see/feel them. The film attempted to cover too much space in too little time, thus sacrificing character development, plot building and history.
One could draw parallels between the plot of this film and the experience of an ayahuasca ceremony. Ayahuasca is a shamanic potion used in the amazon, to bring a person into another world, through hallucination. This allows one to face his/her fears and repressed emotions. Little green goblins are commonly seen. Through an active communication between the consciousness (ego) and the dreaming body (totality of being), which is easily accessible via Ayahuaska, it is possible to reach a deeper layer of self-acceptance, and encounter a more profound sincerity, bringing yourself closer to the here and now, the most intense time and place in the universe.
