I really liked this movie from beginning to end. Although the special effects were good they did not have to make up for any flaws in this film. The story could be interesting to both kids and children, and has a good theme about how to move on in life when things change and how to deal with stress in the family,so maybe a good one for the holidays. There are some fight scenes but nothing too gruesome and very good role models and characters in both male and female characters. I just loved this movie and now need to read the books. I felt though some parts were really interesting and could have been developed more, sometimes the movie just moves along to quickly almost seeming to leave loose ends. Also more scenes with just the fantasy characters not interacting with the human characters. But this story was really heart warming and entertaining and reminded me of favorite children's books of my childhood.

This movie starts as many do, with a good-looking white family composed of a group of adolescents who seem to have undiagnosed mood- disorders, and a pretty but highly negligent single-mom. They are moving into a creepy old house, which we as a culture know, is a BAD IDEA. Creepy old houses are always a mistake. One of the two twin boys discovers that there are mystical creatures living in and around the house. First off, these two twins are obviously played by the same actor. Were Mary Kate and Ashley not available for the role? Also you could tell the kid playing them was British, because he had a stupid British face and I immediately hated him. Secondly, why is this rural Connecticut town the epicenter of supernatural creatures?? Like, the king of the goblins, most powerful goblin of all (Mulrath) lives in the woods behind an AMC Theater and a family dentistry practice? This is unrealistic. Also the daughter fences, which is not realistic because what kind of a weird freak child takes fencing lessons (THE British?????) Anyway, the evil creatures are looking for this book that contains creature secrets, and the kids have to destroy it to get the creatures off their backs. They break their senile old British aunt out of a sanatorium and she helps them. I stopped paying attention when they started using tomato sauce to kill the goblins.Basically this movie proves that children are big dumb-dumbs, and like very stupid things. Children should never be president and maybe should be kept in caves hidden away until their brains form enough to realize that this movie is stupid. Also I don't trust the British, their accents are annoying and their jokes are bad and their faces are so mushy from years of imperialism.

I have to admit that when I sat down to watch this movie, I knew pretty much nothing about it, not even that it was based on a series of books. All I knew was that it was a family movie, so this adult was prepared for the worst. To my surprise, I found myself pretty entertained throughout. One reason was that the characters, as flawed as they are (there IS a lot of yelling and arguing by them, as some other posters have pointed out), are much smarter than characters in many other family movies. They do make some mistakes, but their mistakes are believable and even understandable. Another positive attribute is that the story moves very swiftly (though wisely not TOO swift) and that there are no lulls. There's a lot of action and excitement, but there are also some thoughtful moments here and there. And the special effects, while often obvious CGI creations, are all the same fun to watch. This adult was certainly entertained, so I think a lot of kids would be entertained as well. Though I feel I should mention that there are a few dark and scary moments that might freak out some more sensitive youngsters aged eight or under, so be aware.

Other than the names of the characters and the house, this bore almost no resemblance to the books. Compressing 5 books totaling almost 600 (sparse) pages into 95 minutes IS a challenge, but this "adaptation" sucked the soul from the series and turned it into a mini-horror movie for kids.If you have young kids, skip the movie and read the books. They're a quick read and offer so much more entertainment, imagination and wonder than this movie did.Things you'll find in the books that you won't find here: Characters that aren't complete jerks, mystery, a sense of adventure, more existing creatures and far more interesting challenges.