**This fantasy film deserves our sympathy and attention.**

This is a good film to watch with the family because it will easily appeal to young people and adults alike. However, I think it never received the attention it deserved, perhaps due to the fact that it was released at a time when the fantasy genre was dominated by a group of other much stronger and more relevant films. The film also strives to show the hidden side of knowledge as something dangerous, less than desirable, following the logic of “there are things we simply shouldn’t know”.

The story begins when a recently divorced woman moves with her children to a rustic house in the forest, which belongs to a great-aunt hospitalized as crazy. This house has been closed for a long time, there is salt on all the windows and an industrial amount of tomato sauce and honey in the kitchen pantry. Intriguing. It is quite evident from the beginning that the brothers get along badly, and that the youngest is very attached to his father and waits for him to return. And it is precisely he who begins to hear noises that convince him that there is something more in the house. He discovers a book with a dark warning, but still decides to read it, finding himself in the power of a series of hidden knowledge that should never have reached him, and that were collected eighty years earlier by a great-uncle, who disappeared without a trace.

Like I said, it's a good film and tells a good story. The characters are good, from the humans to the enchanted figures, and there's a lot of entertainment and creativity here. It didn't have a great reception in America, but it was a success in Europe and continues to appear on television from time to time. Directed by Mark Waters, who already has some experience in films for young people, but was far from being a name to consider from the outset, it has a good group of actors. Freddie Highmore shows talent and commitment, which opened many doors for him in the following years, and Irishwoman Sarah Bolger is not far behind. David Strathairn and Joan Plowright are the adult actors who deserve the most praise for their efforts here. Both were very good, and brought credible and adorably magical characters to life. Nick Nolte also makes a cameo appearance.

Technically, the film relies heavily on high-quality CGI, great visual impact and scenic effect. There's no doubt that there was a lot of money invested in the visuals and cinematography, and it paid off: the film doesn't feel unrealistic or overly fanciful. The enchanted objects and characters seem realistic, worthy of the credit we want to give them. The colors are magnificent, the light is ideal, the studio filming was well done and the house where the film takes place is visually magnificent, worthy of a fairy tale. James Horner provides the soundtrack in an effective but not memorable way.

This doesn’t exactly get off to a flying start as siblings “Jared” and “Simon” (Freddie Highmore) arrive at a rundown house with their elder sister “Mallory” (Sarah Bolger) and the mum (Mary-Louise Parker). There is no sign of their absentee dad/husband (Andrew McCarthy) so we are left to assume the worst about his commitment to his family. Of course then there is the usual familial petulance, door slamming and stropping as nobody really wants to live in the ramshackle joint. Luckily, from now on the film diverges away from family melodrama as things start going bump inside the walls and they discover a secret and powerful book. Then out of the woodwork pops “Thimbletack” who reads “Jared” into the story of his great, great uncle “Arthur” (David Strathairn) and warns him that the menacing goblins are determined to steal the book. So long as it stays in the house, protected by an invisible force-field, then all will be fine but when some of the pages fall into enemy hands, a potion emerges that could allow the defences to be breached. What chance this family who range from the intrepid to the terrified via the supremely sceptical, can thwart the evil “Mulgarath” - armed only with salt and some ingenuity? Once we wade through the opening twenty minutes, this becomes an engaging and quickly paced fantasy adventure that Highmore holds together well amidst some magical visual effects, gnarly green critters and lots of daft adventures. Sure, some of the fantastic beasts do look a little “Potter”-esque, but the characters in this story help it stay on the right side of imaginative originality and good fun.