It is no secret that as a human race, our perception can become a bit distorted. We believe we are right; we see only the things that prove us right. We believe we have been wronged; we see only the things that demonstrate how unjustly we have been treated. We believe we know everything there is to know; we don’t even pay attention to anything beyond that. But the thing is, there is always more to the story than what we know and always more to the picture than what we see. Whether that full reality is hidden from us by the works of others or by our own inability to see it, it is still out there. And in many ways, that truth is very much the theme at the center of The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Based on the popular series of young readers’ books, The Spiderwick Chronicles tells the story of three siblings who move to their great aunt’s house in the middle of nowhere and come upon their great-great uncle Arthur Spiderwick’s (David Strathairn) Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. Soon after young Jared (Freddie Highmore) unearths the field guide, the hidden world comes alive around him and his siblings. And as the children suddenly find themselves caught up in a world and a battle they had no idea existed only days before, the story shows us all how much everything can change whenever we allow ourselves to see more of the greater reality around us.

When the story opens, the reality that Jared, Simon (also Freddie Highmore), and Mallory Grace (Sarah Bolger) find themselves in is one defined by their parents’ recent split. It is the reason they have been forced to move from their home to this strange house in the middle of nowhere. It is the reason none of them can get along. And, as Jared sees it, it is all his mother Helen’s (Mary-Louise Parker) fault.

But with Mallory on her mother’s side, Simon refusing to take sides, and Helen just doing her best to move on, to the rest of the family, Jared is the biggest problem. When his mother’s keys disappear, he is the one to blame. When Mallory’s fencing medal goes missing, Jared is told to give it back. And when Jared begins to go on about mysterious creatures living in the house, all they see is him trying to mess up their new life.

The thing is, there is more to story of both the world around the Graces’ new home as well as their own family. And as the movie progresses, it is a path to a better understanding of both on which we follow the entire family.

I found it interesting to watch as each character in the movie gains the ability to see the “fantastical world” described in Spiderwick’s field guide. Filled with fairies and goblins, friends and foes, and a wide array of unseen forces at battle, Spiderwick’s hidden world strikes me as not entirely unlike the spiritual reality that I believe exists around us. And as each character in the movie comes to see the world around them, the story also reminds me of the ways we come to see our world as part of God’s greater reality.

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