SEEKER, THE

Description:

Will Stanton, a young man who learns he is the last of a group of warriors who have dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the Dark, travels back and forth through time. Will discovers a series of clues which lead him into a showdown with forces of unimaginable power. With The Dark rising, the future of the world rests in Will's hands.

KIDS FIRST!® Adult Juror Comments:

This is an action adventure film that will keep you on the edge of your seat almost from the get go. Based on Susan Cooper's book, "Dark is Rising" for which she won both a Newbery Award and a Carnegie medal in 1974. Although die-hard devotees to the book are likely to be unsatisfied with the changes in the storyline, for those who don't have that issue this is an awesome movie. Alexander Ludwig's portrayer of Will is believable even if he seems to be pulled into a role that he doesn't relish undertaking. The missing elements to the screenplay that connect the story to British folklore are indeed missing but the special effects that bring snakes to life and collapse the glass solarium with a flood of water make this compete with the likes of recent movie releases of the Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia books. It helps to remember that logistically, screenplay has so fewer pages than a novel so you can never include all the elements of a great book in a film. It's violence level is pretty tame for today's pre-teens and teens but certainly there are enough scary elements to give younger viewers nightmares and fears.