We just finished watching The Seeker - The Dark is Rising which was just released on DVD. Somehow I missed the release in the movie theaters, which in retrospect is probably a good thing. As it was I am a little upset with myself for purchasing the DVD instead of renting it.
You need to understand that of the few books that I have managed to keep during our various moves and recover after our exodus from New Orleans a la the Katrina disaster was the entire Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. The novel is excellent, and there is a very good reason that it is (unlike any of the Harry Potter novels) a Newbery Honor award winning book. I've thoughtfully included the cover in this article for those of you who are curious - you should be able to see the silver medal of the Newbery award. The fourth book of the series, The Grey King, is a gold John Newbery Medal award winner as well. To say that the books were not well written and excellent works of fiction would be a bald faced lie.
That being said, I have to express my complete dissatisfaction for the movie. And I'll be honest, I'm going to have to nitpick this one, because it really does bother me that much. If you haven't read the novels or seen the film, but one day intend to - don't read the rest of this post - this is your only spoiler warning.
a) The main title of the film is The Seeker, with The Dark is Rising in smaller print underneath, thrown in almost as an afterthought. This should have been my first warning sign that there was trouble ahead, but I figured there was some good intellectual property related reason for it, so I didn't worry too much about it at first. The title of the book is simply The Dark is Rising, and no mention of "the Seeker" anywhere but in the story itself. To me, the only reason why the title would have been changed is if the author wished it, and the only reason I can think of for that to happen is if the author wanted to try to separate herself from the movie as much as humanly possible, while still retaining a cut of the royalties.
b) The main character, Will Stanton, and his family, are portrayed as an American family that had recently moved to Great Britain. In the novel, Will Stanton and his family are British. The only reason I can come up with for this change to be made is a corporate one - some Hollywood executive most likely decided that an American family would be easier for Americans to relate to than a British one, never mind the exceptional success of the Harry Potter series that did not perform any such adjustments to the storyline. It's not the end of the world in and of itself, but combined with the rest of the problems it adds to the whole.
c) An primary character, known in the novel as the Walker, a homeless rag of a man who has a very important part to play in the story, is entirely missing. Gone. No mention, no reference, no tip of the hat, nothing. I am at a complete loss of any suggestions as to why this might be the case, other than to keep the story simple (but there are still a dozen other characters, so really - what's one more?).
d) An entire chapter of the novel when Will Stanton first "awakens" to his power as an "Old One" is also missing from the film. It was a beautiful chapter of discovery, and for the first part of the chapter noone is around to help Will to understand what he is going through. Instead, they have inserted a rather stupid "security guards have caught Will shoplifting at the mall" scene to take its place, presumably because filming at a shopping mall costs less and is easier than finding a completely natural pastoral outdoor setting.
e) In addition to the shoplifting scene, when Will finally does get to learn about his special abilities, its explained to him in a very matter of fact sort of way with a lot of repetition. I'm not sure how many times one of the other principle characters, Merriman Lyons, told Will, "You are Will Stanton, the last of the Old Ones. You ARE the Seeker!", but it started to sound campy and annoying.
f) Merriman Lyons is supposed to be a modern version of the wizard Merlin of Arthurian legend. With that in mind, in the film his character comes across like a primping, annoying, self centered, self important, and deluded jack-ass. I loved Merriman Lyons in the novels. I hated him in this film.
g) The other "Old Ones" who are there to support Will Stanton in his quest are likewise portrayed as somewhat stupid, making it just as difficult to relate to them. If I hadn't read the novels, I'm not sure that I would want them to win.
h) Will Stanton's brothers are also more obnoxious in the film than they were in the novel, one of them turning downright evil - which just doesn't strike me as correct.
i) Maggie's character was never a love interest for Will Stanton in the novels - he just thought she was pretty. In the film they started building up the sparks between her and Will from the very opening of the film. Her sudden demise at the end was unremarkable, and for some reason she was completely forgotten by the other characters. In the novel, even though Maggie was a servant of the Dark, she was still missed by the characters who had no direct memory of the events at hand.
j) The attic in the Stanton's house was originally Will's oldest brother Stephen's bedroom, and because Will idolized Stephen, he loved using it as his own bedroom while Stephen was away in the navy. In the film, Will was forced into the attic by his brother Max who had come home from college.
k) In the novel, Stephen sent Will a Carnival mask for his birthday / Christmas present, which would later become the head of Herne the Hunter as he drove off the Dark Rider and helped save the day. In the film this present became a belt with special loops to hold each of the "signs" that Will was supposed to "seek". I imagine some studio executive decided to can the mask idea because Herne features large horns, which most God-fearing Christian Americans would have a difficult time differentiating from the Devil or some kind of Demon.
l) There were six signs in the novel, each made of fire, water, wood, stone, bronze or iron. They were about as large as a belt buckle, and Will kept them looped on his belt like extra buckles as he found and accumulated them. In the film, the sign of bronze became the sign of "the soul of Will Stanton", and each of the remaining signs was reduced to the size of a pebble that could be easily carried in the pocket. This of course made the special belt sent by Stephen completely superfluous, and also appears to have been the idea of someone hoping to selling the "signs" from the film as keychains, since the ones in the novel would be too large to be anything other than paperweights.
m) The movie created a completely different storyline for Will's deceased brother Tom, instead reinventing him as Will's twin brother who was mysteriously kidnapped when only two weeks old. To add insult to injury Will is reunited with his long-lost twin at the end of the movie.
There are even more things that bother me about this film, but I need to stop because it's seriously making me ill. I never want to see this film again, and I sincerely hope that they do not choose to make any sequels. I imagine this movie didn't do so well in the box office because I never heard that it was out and that people were seeing it. Nobody I know brought it up to me, I stumbled across it by accident. I had seen the preview when we went to the last Harry Potter film, but had not heard anything since. I'm also planning to auction the DVD off at my earliest opportunity.
I also am very disappointed that Susan Cooper did not retain full control over this film. I imagine she was made an offer she couldn't refuse, and since she did not already have a considerable fortune at hand like J.K. Rowling, and possibly did not have lawyers at her disposal with her best interests in mind, she was probably taken advantage of. This is of course speculation, I have no idea what really happened, but the end result is clearly not deserving of any awards whatsoever.
If you have read the Dark is Rising series, or even if you haven't, avoid this film. Someone please give me back those two hours of my life.
