The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

David L. Cunningham

Writers (WGA):

John Hodge (screenplay)
Susan Cooper (novel)

Release Date:

5 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

Even the smallest of light... shines in the darkness

Plot:

A boy's life is turned upside down when he learns that he is the last of a group of immortal warriors who have dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the dark.

Plot Keywords:

Warrior | Power | Dog | Cat | Time Travel

Cast

Alexander Ludwig	...	Will Stanton
Christopher Eccleston	...	The Rider
Ian McShane	...	Merriman Lyon
Frances Conroy	...	Miss Greythorne
James Cosmo	...	Dawson
Jim Piddock	...	Old George
Amelia Warner	...	Maggie Barnes
John Benjamin Hickey	...	John Stanton
Wendy Crewson	...	Mary Stanton
Emma Lockhart	...	Gwen Stanton
Drew Tyler Bell	...	James Stanton
Edmund Entin	...	Robin Stanton
Gary Entin	...	Paul Stanton
Gregory Smith	...	Max Stanton
Jordan J. Dale	...	Stephen Stanton

Also Known As:

The Dark Is Rising (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for fantasy action and some scary images.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #43658) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Peru:PT | Finland:K-11 | Brazil:Livre | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:PG | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | France:U

Filming Locations:

MediaPro Studios, Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Alexander Ludwig also plays the role of twin brother Tom, but isn't credited for this role.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Christmas tree is being delivered about fifteen minutes in, the tree outside the house is very thick and full and about ten feet tall, and appears so as they are trying to jam it through the front door. When bringing it down the stairs, though, the tree trunk is much thinner and is much shorter, inferring that the bottom half of the tree was lopped off to make the scene more manageable.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Paul Stanton: Hey man, let's get out of here.
Robin Stanton: School is out.
John Stanton: What's up, little brother? I gotta catch up with the twins.
Gwen Stanton: Hi Will.
Will Stanton: Come on, Gwen. Let's go.

Movie Connections:

References Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Soundtrack:

Jingle Bells

Harry Potter meets the Fifth Element?

If you read the book, skip the movie. If you did not read the book, still skip the movie. I saw this with a group in which some of us had read the book and some of us had not. Everybody disliked it.

The story was confusing, disjointed, and eventually pointless. Even if you had read the book, it appeared that the screenwriter was taking scenes from Harry Potter, scenes from the Fifth Element, and a few scenes from Cooper's original novels then patching them together. This led to an incoherent story line.

The biggest question is what were they thinking when they disregarded the story contained in the book? In an episode of "all things considered" on NPR, screenwriter John Hodge asserted that he was trying to distance this movie from Harry Potter. If so, he failed miserably because the massive changes made this look more like a bad Harry Potter knock-off than a separate film. From the NPR interviews, it appears that Ms. Cooper had little or no input in the film. I suspect that the filmmakers were trying to make a Harry Potter-like film out of Susan Cooper's story so they could avoid copyright infringement. Unfortunately, they were trying to fit a square peg into the round hole and it did not work.