THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES/DOUBLE TROUBLE

Young Londoner Freddie Highmore builds on his impressive CV by playing not just one but two roles, as twin brothers, in this fantasy adventure.

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Still only in his mid-teens, his range of parts to date make interesting viewing. They are not surprising, given his distinctly, well, boyish looks, but they do make you wonder What Next?

He started early, age 7, with TV parts, which might have had something to do with the fact that his mother is a talent agent and represents, among others, one Daniel Ratcliffe.

His breakthrough role was, undoubtedly, Finding Neverland and here is where a pattern starts.

Neverland was a serious bit of cinema but, obviously, had a very fanciful edge, given that it was focussed on a man who wrote about fairies, and in it Highmore was playing at life as well as learning about it.

Next up was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, featuring Highmore as Charlie, which yet more real life lessons to master, but all served up with a large dollop of humour and fantasy.

Then a large leap into the unknown, as Pantalaimon in The Golden Compass, when the actual world is quickly and decisively left behind in exchange for the entirely imaginary.

In Spiderwick, based on the children’s stories, he moves into the run-down Spiderwick Estate (above) as twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their mother and their sister Mallory only to find himself / themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Not much chance of coming to grips with real life here. Will Highmore always be trapped in the far-fetched? Or will he one day grow up?

Actually, he has featured in one serious film, August Rush, in 2007, playing a boy looking for his parents after being separated from them at birth.

That was a grown up movie but was largely overlooked and in his next big picture, Highmore is reduced to a mere voice in an animated tale of Astro Boy.

So what does the future hold? When will Highmore take the step from his magical fare to date and tackle an adult role?

The date and character is unknown for now but they are coming and he will be fun to watch as he makes the transition.

The Spiderwick Chronicles opens nationwide on Friday, March 21, 2008.