Walden Media, the folks that brought us “The Chronicles of Narnia” in 2006, are pumping out “family friendly” films with a magical slant left and right. Their latest, “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” is about a 14 year-old boy who is the only person standing between the forces of light and dark.
Will Stanton and his family are Americans living in England (why, we don’t really know) and they are about to celebrate their first Christmas in the UK. Will is the the seventh son of a seventh son, (which apparently means something, but we’re never told why), and the only person that seems to care about him in the family is his little sister, Gwen. One of his older brothers puts the moves on a girl that Will likes. Two others, (twins), taunt him and hit him in the head with a soccer ball, and his brother in college comes home to visit and takes over Will’s room. Oh yeah, his father, a physics professor, is so wrapped up his work that his children need to almost make appointments to talk to him.
The Stanton family is invited to a Christmas party at a neighboring mansion. While there, Will encounters “The Rider,” the bringer of darkness. He also meets four “old ones,” Will’s guardians, who explain that he is The Seeker, one that must find 6 signs that have been scattered throughout time for 1000 years -the last time that the Rider tried to spread darkness over the earth.
It turns out that Will is the only one that can read some magic book that explains what the signs are made of. He is also the only one, (apart from The Rider), who can sense the signs necessary to release the light that will defeat the darkness. Still with me?
What follows is Will jumping through time to find the signs before The Rider finds them and/or he brings darkness to the world.
“The Seeker” is based on a novel, and I sincerely hope that it was better written than the film. There are numerous plot holes, most of which I cannot mention without spoiling certain elements of the film. But, take my word for it, this movie will leave you shaking your head by the end.
None of the characters are engaging, which means that we really don’t care what happens to them. The Rider appears to be a bit of a Voldemort clone from the “Harry Potter” films, with young Will as Harry. The writers provide very little background for any of the characters which, again, makes it difficult to care about what’s going on.