The Seeker - The Dark is Rising
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Movie Reviews of The Seeker - The Dark is Rising
Movie Review: Not a movie to strain yourself seeking
Summary: 3 Stars
I rented this DVD and allowed the replay to run it's normal course. I was not bored but the movie was not anything to shout about. Basically it is an adventure movie best enjoyed probably by Harry Porter fans. A seeker to return the power of the light? 'let there be dark' is a corny idea but certainly not novel!Movie Review: Disappointing movie
Summary: 1 Stars
I discovered the Dark is Rising sequence nearly 21 years ago, and have read each of the five books hundreds of times. I hadn't remembered seeing the movie in theaters, so I was excited when the local Blockbuster had it to rent. Anyone who's seen the Harry Potter movies knows that you can skip parts of the plot and tell the same story, the Seeker doesn't even do that much. They've left out key pieces of plot, key developments, and a lot of the wonder of Susan Cooper's book. As a stand alone movie, if you've never read the books, it's just ok, as a lot of the story seems to wander. I was hugely disappointed with the movie, although the actors and effects were all pretty good. Anyone with children who want to read the book, I'd almost recommend that they watch the movie first, it would be less confusing.Movie Review: Tragic mangling of a great book
Summary: 2 Stars
I have read and re-read Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" many times since I first discovered it in the late 1970s. It is a wonderful book, one of my top ten all-time favorites, and so is the series. This movie is only very loosely based on the book, and is, in and of itself, a bad movie whether you have read the book or not.
If you have read the book, you will be horrified at how many needless changes were made to the plot and characters.
If you have not read the book, you will be confused because you won't know what is really going on.
I never expect a movie version fo a book to follow the book exactly, but it should at least keep the important aspects of a story. This movie does not. It tears away many of the very best things of the book, and alters what little is left so badly that it darkens the story where there should have been light (such as in the relationships among the Stanton children).
It doesn't help that, despite some excellent actors, everyone was miscast, and some of the most important characters (Will and Merriman especially) are made into such horrible characters that one might weep at the wreckage.
The worst thing is that, after seeing this movie, people who have never read the book might avoid it, thinking it is as chaotic, confusing, and unsatisfactory as the movie. The book, and the other books in the series, are well worth reading no matter what your age.
Plot summary: The basic story is that of Will, a boy who comes into his spiritual inheritance as being the last-born of the "Old Ones," mysterious guardians who have been shepherding and aiding humanity in its fight against the Dark (the powers of evil) for millenia. When an Old One is born, he or she does not remember being an Old One. Old Ones must be reminded of their true natures by reading a magical book on or shortly after their 11th birthday (the age is changed to 14 in the movie). That is one of the tasks Will must accomplish in this story.
Another task is for Will to retrieve six signs of power that can be used to help fight against the Dark. He needs to move through time to accomplish his tasks. In the book, the six signs are actual physical objects; in the movie, one of the horrible changes made is that the sixth sign is Will himself (I am not spoiling anything here--you know that this is so as soon as they say, "the sixth sign isn't hidden").
Of course, the agents of the Dark do all within their power to stop Will from remembering who he truly is and from recovering all six signs.
That's the gist of both the book and the movie. This summary does not convey how evocative and magical Ms. Coooper's book is, and how very much the opposite the movie is. Will especially is made into such an unlikable character--pouty, bratty, sullen, and, when he gets his powers, ready to flaunt them and throw his weight around with them instead of handling them wisely as even a young Old One would do--that I wonder how anyone can like him or care much for what happens to him.
If you have not watched this movie, don't. Instead, buy Ms. Cooper's books and give yourself some highly enjoyable hours of reading. The Dark Is Rising (Boxed Set): The Dark Is Rising, Greenwitch, Over Sea, Under Stone, Silver on the Tree, The Grey King
Movie Review: sad to see a wonderful series end up on screen this way
Summary: 2 Stars
I sincerely hope Susan Cooper got a good deal on the rights to TDiR, as they've now sledge-hammered the spirit of one of my favorite series of books in the name of updating, relocating and modernizing...and ended up with a flop anyway.
I can't really see how this would attract any of the audiences they were probably hoping would see it - the readers of the books will no doubt be disappointed and those who haven't read the books will have better-executed movies to choose from (see: Harry Potter, Spiderwick Chronicles, even The Golden Compass).
To remove the story entirely from its lush UK settings and Arthurian plot devices is to deny child viewers a lot of credit that they honestly are due.
Oh well.
Movie Review: How to RUIN a classic beloved book
Summary: 1 Stars
What do you get when an awful director, a hack screenwriter and terrible casting director join forces to ruin a beloved children's book? You get _The Seeker_.
It is clear NO ONE associated with this film did anything more that read the book jacket of Cooper's wonderful book. Why do talentless film makers buy up great books only to change everything about them? The book works because the author knows how to tell a story.
This is truly an awful film. If you must see it, rent it, or buy it used. Don't give film makers who despise excellence in storytelling a single penny of your hard earned money. Instead, buy a copy of the book and read it out loud to your family on a winter's night. There's the magic.