Seeker - Dark is Rising Susan Cooper words/ SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE SPOILERS

[marion11111]

> 
> Alla:
> 
> My pleasure. Well I saw it, I did.
> 

marion11111:
Well, I managed to get back into to town from my convention in time to catch the last 
cheap show so i saw it too.  And thank goodness, I didn't pay full price.

> Where to start? Oh the good news, I guess. You will not be tempted 
> to walk out from this movie, especially if you have not read the 
> book. Or at least I think so. The movie is entertaining enough if 
> you forget that it has ANY relation to Susan Cooper book IMO, still 
> nothing special but okay action/fantasy flick.
> 

marion11111:
I disagree with you on this one.  I thought it was a rambling and surprisingly slow movie.  
The tween-age boys at the end of my row went out for snacks three times.  The teens in 
front of me summed it up nicely at the end when one turned to the other and said "Well, 
that sucked."  Some kids in the theater laughed a few times and one family walking out in 
front of me talked about enjoying it, but I don't think this one will catch on.  One of my 
7th graders went on Friday for his birthday party and I'm curious to see what he says.  He 
just finished the series earlier this week in preparation for the movie and enjoyed the 
books.

And such a sad HP imitation!  No one will know that the books pre-date Potter and are 
wonderful because all they'll see is how the story doesn't make sense and in it's best 
moments copies HP and I'm afraid anyone who was considering reading the books, won't 
now. phooey.

> Truly, they are not. Will's brothers "bullying" I guess you can call 
> friendly teasing sort of or maybe cruel teasing.
> 

marion11111:
Fred and George anyone?

> His parents are emotionally distant for a reason, which sort of gets 
> resolved at the end ( SHHHHHH - book fans, I am sure you would NOT 
> want to know that reason and how it gets resolved), so I "think" 
> film makers wanted to convey a loving family, sort of.
> 

marion11111:
This was one of the most confusing and pretty much pointless parts of the movie.  They 
set it up with all these hints about dad's involvment with Light and Dark and then it goes 
nowhere.  If they were going to rewrite the story, that would have been a very interesting 
direction to go.  I also think they could have successfully pursued that younger sister 
holding him to his committment to the Light - kind of an anti-Maggie.


> So, yeah, rooks everywhere and two guards indeed turn into many 
> rooks.
> 
> Scary that.
> 

marion11111:
The rook scenes were very well done.  Scary and it looked great.  The Rider on the horse 
got a little old, but the rooks were always good.  The visits to the past were also very 
good.  We could have had more of that that and less of the silly Maggie crush.

> Um, the Old ones apparently can die. GOT IT guys? They apparently 
> can die. Turns out Will's ancestor was an old one and he created 
> signs and he is apparently not among the living anymore, I think.
> 
> 
> They are, well, rather sad in a sense that I did not see any powers 
> of them manifesting themselves. Except walking through time and 
> trying to fight with rooks in rather sad way.
> 
> 
> Merryman, godlike being, who is an amasing help to Will in the 
> battle and does all those scary things? NOPE. Nothing of the such.
> 
> 
> Book of Gramarye apparently gives Will no wisdom except he is 
> reading about signs from there.
>

marion11111:
Very badly done.  There is no sense of  this being a timeless battle and that the Old Ones 
don't actually have an immediate stake in the outcome since they can't die.  What was cool 
in the book  was that they fought the battle because it was the right thing to do.  And Will 
got to see what his life would be like and just how far he needed to grow in his power.


> Max is just being I guess Imperioed by Rider, so he is not really 
> bad.

marion11111:
really, I didn't leave to go to the bathroom or get more popcorn, but I think i missed 
something.  Did Maggie do that?  Did she slip something into his drink?  Did the Rider do 
that?  Just by looking at him?  Is that why he had an English accent?


> 
> Are you sitting guys? There is no Walker. Repeat after me. There is 
> NO sign of Walker anywhere in the movie, NADA, zilch.
> 

marion11111:
I am seriously confused here.  I came in about 5 or 6 minutes late and assumed I missed 
the Walker.  Who the heck is the guy in the hooded shirt on the movie poster?  I could have 
sworn I read an interview where the actor said he was glad to see he was in a later book.  
Or was that the guy who played the Rider?  But anyway, who is the guy in the hoodie?

> 
> Oh, oh and the sixth sign? It is Will himself. I thought for a 
> second he would scream to Rider, I am a Horcrux, I got it.
> 

marion11111:
One of the teens in front of me said at this point "Oh, he's a horcrux - what a rip-off."  
And Alla, did you have any idea which sign was which other than the first when someone 
actually says "You've got the sign of stone."  They all looked like the Sign of the Glass 
Marble to me.  Oh, except the water sign - very obvious that one.


> And the reason why Will parents are that way? Tom, that brother who 
> died, well he was Will's twin and he was kidnapped.
>

marion11111:
I'm speechless on that one.

And did you notice that Bathilda Bagshot makes a cameo in this movie?  Honestly I nearly 
cried when I saw that - and not for joy!   She needs to be careful she doesn't get typecast 
as  "creepy old lady that houses snakes."

I really am OK with filmmakers changing a story if they make a good movie.  LotR and 
Narnia were - I thought - very well-done and they made changes.  HP leaves out many of 
my favorite parts, but they're still good movies so I'm OK.  Little Princess (the 
Americanized one) annoys most of my kidlit friends as does the Susan Sarandon Little 
Women, but I didn't even care that they changed nearly everything because they're such  
beautiful movies  But this was not that good - too many cliched action shots and sloppy 
story-telling.  They could have cut half that crazy backstory and I don't see how the twin 
adds anything other than confusion.  

Like I said earlier, I'm afraid that anyone who was encouraged to read the books won't 
bother now.

Hey, so what did happen in the first six minutes?  I came in just as the Christmas tree was 
being delivered by Old George and then Harry - no wait, Will - got one sock from Fred and 
George.