The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Unseen World

There are invisible beings all around us. Some have only our best interests in mind. Some wish us ill.

This is the fantastic message of The Spiderwick Chronicles. It makes the movie into the impossible. Goblins, brownies, ogres, and sprites don't really exist. We all know that. And so many of us would be tempted to disregard the entire story as fiction.

But in every fiction there is some truth, and this movie is no exception. All around us -- all around you, reader, right now -- are beings that, if you could see them, you would call magical. They're unique, like nothing you've ever seen before. Not animal. Not human. They are awe-inspiring and fear-inspiring and generally frightful.

Not all of them wish you evil. Many are servants of God, doing His bidding with a joyful and worshippful heart.

But some of them are evil. They're entire goal is to get you out of the equation. They don't let you see them and the trouble is...you believe that they don't exist. How easy it must be to fight an enemy who doesn't even believe that there is an attack!

Lucy is balancing on the line between protection and death. She can't see the goblins drooling for her blood on the other side of the line. She knows nothing of their existence.

Simon is looking for his cat in what he thinks is an empty yard. But Jared can see what his brother doesn't: the goblins just waiting for him to step over the line.

Mallory is practicing her fencing in the front yard, purposefully disobeying her younger brother's warning. She's confident that the yard is empty, until something bumps against her. Her sword plunges downward...and comes away dripping green.

Mom is driving up, preparing to park. Her children clamber into the car, and

her daughter takes the wheel. She thinks they've gone insane, but that's before there are various thumps and splats of green blood.

How can we live like there is no evil? They are out to get us, and they are out to win! Their whole life revolves on destroying us and our relationship with God. And what does our life revolve around? Our clothes, our hair, our friends, our family.

Lucy loved her father. Simon loved his cat. Mallory loved her fencing. Mom loved her children. But they were all forced to discover that there was an evil seeking them. And in their quest, they found an adventure better than they could wish for.