alonewiththemoon | The Dark has fallen and it can't get up

I finally saw the trailer for The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising and omg it looks horrible. All the things that were delicate and important about the book have been trampled into an American lowest common denominator. I sincerely doubt I will be able to bring myself to see the film. In doing some poking around to try to see if Susan Cooper has any public comment on the film, I did learn that years ago she sold the film rights to the Jim Henson Company, who years later (presumably post-Disney) sold the rights to Walden. Oh, what could have been... The most comment I could find from Susan Cooper is that "she has mixed feelings." I did learn that Herne the Hunter has been removed from the story line, along with the bulk of the Arthurian legend and English folklore. This is painful.

This blog entry at blogcritics.org sums everything up that's wrong with the film for me: "During filming in Bucharest, Romania there was a joke on The Dark is Rising set that only three things have been changed from the original 1973 novel: the nationality of lead character Will Stanton, changed from English to American; his age changed from 11 to 13; and everything else that happens in the story." Ugh.