Most kids approaching their 15th birthday find they must contend with zits and puberty.
Will Stanton has all that plus the discovery that he is a chosen one of sorts, destined to save the whole world by fighting the forces of Dark. Geez.
Will (Alexander Ludwig) and his many siblings have moved to England, and as his 15th birthday approaches Will notices weird things happening around him. Dozens of ominous black crows weigh down the trees near his house. People he has never met know his name. Security guards turn into monsters.
Luckily, Will has been invited to a Christmas party in the village, where his new friends Miss Greythorne (Frances Conroy) and Merriman (Ian McShane) help him understand that he has an important task ahead.
In the ancient fight between Light and Dark, Will is the only one who can maintain the power of Light, and to do so he must find six crucial signs. Five of the signs are small objects, but the sixth is connected to a human soul.
If he fails, the power of Dark will take over; there are previews of just how dark and cold and scary and ghastly that would be. The frightening figure of The Rider (Christopher Eccleston) tears through the Dark landscape on his horse, trying to terrify Will into abandoning his quest.
Finding the signs puts Will on a great adventure. He discovers he can time travel, move objects with his mind and create light -- and fire -- at will. He fights off hordes of snakes, travels into Viking times, falls into an ancient grave, blows up a windmill and dodges deadly falling icicles -- all the while doubting his ability to get the job done.
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising is based on the award-winning fantasy novel by Susan Cooper, and as so often happens in the translation from page to screen, what we have here is too much of a good thing. The story is impossibly complicated, with poor McShane left to blather away in the role of Basil Exposition, talking and talking and talking about what is happening and why. Book purists will object to the changes from book to film; adult film fans will object to the large lapses in logic.
That leaves the young teen population of the target audience, and they will probably like this movie. There's plenty of action and thrills and some decent special effects to keep kids engaged.
The storytelling is clunky but the performances are decent, and Ludwig is both cute and talented. This will not escape the notice of your average 12-year-old girl -- and there's nothing like a new heartthrob on the teen scene to pump up the box office.
(This film is rated PG)
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