he Spiderwick Chronicles" is an imaginative, inventive and wholly delightful children's fantasy, filled with ogres, brownies and boggarts and sylphs and goblins. But its best perk is young Freddie Highmore in the dual lead roles of Jared and Simon Grace.

Based on the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, finds twin brothers Jared and Simon moving, along with their older sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and mother Helen (Mary-Louise Parker), into their newly inherited New England estate.

The place was once the home of Arthur Spiderwick (played in flashbacks by David Strathairn), an eccentric who devoted his life to studying magical creatures. Helen Grace (Mary Louise Parker) has just split from her husband (Andrew McCarthy), and arrived at the house of her Aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright).

Lucinda's been carted off to a sanitarium, claiming that strange things happened there and was put away for her troubles. For some reason she has stocked up on honey, salt and tomato sauce. So now the Spiderwick mansion is home to Helen and her three children. And there's a lot of life in the Spiderwick mansion.