The Spiderwick Chronicles, which is based on a series of Y.A. fantasy novels by Tony DiTerlliza and Holly Black, finished a close second to the big budget schlockfest 10,000 BC in one of the most competitive weeks of the summer so far for DVD releases.  The Spiderwick Chronicles is a superior fantasy film that is perfect for kids 10 and up.  The film’s screenplay, which was partially written by John Sayles, treats its young cast with respect and empathy, while director Mark Waters integrates the film’s fantasy and realistic elements seamlessly.

 

The film’s special effects look especially great in the Blu-ray edition, which also contains a treasure trove of extra features.  One of the best things about the extras is how some of them such as “Spiderwick: It’s All True” maintain the integrity of the story and don’t shatter the illusions of young viewers.  Another great featurette demonstrates how actors Freddie Highmore, who is superb in a double role, and Sarah Bolger managed to lose their respective British and Irish accents to play these quintessential American characters.

 

With a cleverly targeted advertising campaign that has been running on Saturday mornings, The Spiderwick Chronicles managed to sell three quarters of million units during its first week of release on DVD.   The Golden Compass, another fantasy film that underperformed at the box office, has managed to sell nearly two million copies on DVD and stay in the Top 30 some nine weeks after its initial release.  Perhaps The Spiderwick Chronicles can demonstrate similar legs on DVD, which would certainly be welcome news for the fantasy film genre—since a number of excellent fantasy films including Matthew Vaughn’s film of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, The Golden Compass, and The Spiderwick Chronicles have received neither the critical nor box office success they deserved. For retailers in addition to the books and the DVD there is also a Spiderwick Chronicles Board Game from University Games (see “Spiderwick Chronicles Board Game”).

 

The bestselling non-theatrical release of the week was Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, a cartoon meditation on what Preston Sturges used to call “Topic A,” which should be obvious from the title with its polymorphous reference to the Shakespearean synonym (“the beast with two backs”) for the “act” itself.   The second of four Futurama direct-to-DVD features, The Beast With a Billion Backs represents a considerable improvement over the first such effort, Bender’s Big Score, though this second feature is much too suggestive for youngsters. 

 

Though it begins with assorted couplings involving various continuing cast members, The Beast With a Billion Backs takes a very different turn when a sexually voracious and multi-tentacled (hentai reference anyone?) monster from another universe named Yivo arrives and attempt to mate with everything in the galaxy and in the process reduces “Topic A” to absurdity in typical Futurama fashion. 

 

Cleverly written and excellently animated The Beast With a Billion Backs represents a real return to form for this iconoclastic series.  Equally good are the extras, which include commentary tracks from Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, a making-of feature with the voice cast, the extremely cool Futurama: The Lost Adventure, which is taken from the PS 2 game, and an extended preview of the third Futurama DTV feature.