Freddie Highmore as Jared Grace travels to another dimension with the fantastical manuscript written by his great-great-uncle Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn).

Paramount Pictures

There are almost enough wild characters to fill two Harry Potter books in The Spiderwick Chronicles, the magical, adventure-filled movie based on the popular book series.

Elves, sprites, fairies, bad goblins, a friendly hobgoblin (there’s a difference, you see), a powerful towering griffin that can fly three children on its back, a shape-shifting ogre, a 125-year-old genius and a magical book that everyone wants are the ingredients in a fantastic parallel world. Hidden from human sight, the key to that world is discovered by three children who move into a creepy Victorian house in the middle of nowhere with their mother, who is fleeing her crumbling marriage.

The book — Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You —was based on years of research by their great-great uncle (David Strathairn), who disappeared 80 years ago, shortly after completing the book, which had been his obsession. It details the world of fairies and goblins and the monstrous ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte), who has spent eight decades trying to get the book because it will provide him with the secrets for gaining unlimited powers to control the universe.

The Field Guide has been kept in a locked chest in a secret room of the house by his daughter, Lucinda, who is now 86 years old (Joan Plowright) and was recently locked away in a sanitarium because of her insistence that goblins and fairies are real. The book is protected by a line of magical toadstools that encircle the house and that Mulgarath’s goblin army cannot cross.

Aunt Lucinda’s house is falling into ruin when her niece, Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker), and her three children move in. It’s a scary place, what with the sounds of some creature scurrying behind the kitchen walls, not to mention the mounds of salt that have been placed on all the windowsills and the dozens of jars of honey in the pantry.

But soon the precocious Jared Grace (15-year-old Freddie Highmore) has discovered the secret room, his great-great Uncle Arthur’s magical book and the 2-foot-tall magical elf creature named Thimbletack who jealously guards it, lest it fall into the hands of the goblins. Thimbletack, who calls himself a “brownie” and who has been given voice by Martin Short, has pointy ears and a face that disarmingly resembles John McCain’s, except when there’s any hint that the book is in danger. Then Thimbletack puffs up, his face turning a bright green.

All this is merely the jumping-off point for The Spiderwick Chronicles, which spins wild adventures for the three Grace children — 17-year-old Mallory (Sarah Bolger), the daring Jared and his more cautious twin brother, Simon (also Highmore, although so little is made of their bond that you may sit through the entire movie not realizing that they are twins nor that they are played by the same young actor).

Before long, the sword-wielding Mallory is using her fencing talents to fend off attacks by the goblins, which can be seen by us humans only if we look through a magical stone eyepiece or are fortunate enough to have been squirted in the eye by the amiable hobgoblin Hogsqueal (voice by Seth Rogen). Hogsqueal’s saliva allows humans to see into the fantastic secret world all around us. This comes in handy when Jared and Mallory stage a daring attempt to rescue Simon from the goblins, flee a giant lizard through a dank cave, and fend off a frightening attack on the old house by Mulgarath’s goblin army.

The three writers who worked on the screenplay have remained vividly faithful to the book series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Some scenes mirror the books’ drawings. However, because the half-dozen short books in the Spiderwick series would have made for a four-hour movie had all the adventures been included, much of the action from the middle books has been jettisoned to concentrate on the escapades found in the first two books and the last. (This is actually not a bad thing because the books seem to bog down in the middle with too many new characters.)

What remains is a series of practically nonstop fantasy adventures directed at a fast clip by Mark Waters, yet with underpinnings that also have relevance to the real world in the family problems that the Grace children and their mother encounter. Highmore’s Jared is especially good as the child who is always blamed for mischievous pranks of which he is innocent. Bolger’s Mallory, who at first doubts the existence of fairies and goblins, makes a feisty sidekick for him when it’s time to do battle. The film’s otherworldly ending adds a surprisingly touching counterpoint to all the action. Fans of the Spiderwick books are sure to be thrilled by the movie, which also is guaranteed to win new readers for the series.

****The Spiderwick Chronicles

Starring: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn; voices: Martin Short, Seth Rogen.

Rating: PG, contains violence

mjanuson@projo.com