The Seeker (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: Alexander Ludwig, Christopher Eccleston, Ian McShane, Frances Conroy, Jonathan Jackson
DVD Info
Release:
Mar 18, 2008
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Dual Side
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Surround - French, Spanish
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
- Disc 1/Side A: THE SEEKER - Full Frame
- Full Frame - 1.33
- Disc 1/Side B: THE SEEKER - Widescreen
- Widescreen - 2.35
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Sloppy, lifeless storytelling so limp it guarantees no sequels will be made.
The Seeker is great-looking and well-acted, but unlike the Potter books and films, there's no sense that it's about anything more than the throwing-balls-of-smoke and mind-melding that we see onscreen.
Not-too-impressive CG effects and frenetic camera work but cannot mask what is--or, rather, what isn't there.
The excessive strobe effects may trigger epileptic fits, but the movie itself will induce narcolepsy.
By Americanising the hero and grotesquely distorting the plot, they can only alienate the fan-base and confuse the newcomer.
A moderate Potter-teen fantasy about an American kid who comes to little old England with his family (dad's on some kind of academic posting) to find that he is the boy-king leader of a group of supernatural warriors.
An uncanny and unholy blend of The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense and The Seventh Seal.
The Dark is Rising is one of those awful sorcery tales where a spotty young boy (Alexander Ludwig) suddenly gets to save the Earth from supernatural creeps such as Christopher Eccleston.
Not very likely to seize that Potter market, this is a disappointing film that starts out okay but goes rapidly downhill, thanks to rudimentary characterisation and storytelling that's designed more to accommodate gratuitous action.
Imagine Time Bandits confined to a boring Berkshire village and drained of colour, and you can see why this pig’s ear of Susan Cooper’s well-received children’s story went belly-up at the US box office.
Off-the-shelf teen fantasy not likely to satisfy the post-Potter/LOTR crowd but guaranteed to enrage fans of the source novel. The newly added quasi-religious overtones don’t help either.
The script is rather bland, the action sequences are extremely dull and it lacks a big effects-heavy set-piece.
Director David L. Cunningham's proffered chills are strictly of the lightweight variety: a menacing flock of ravens, a slimy skein of snakes and a couple of mall security yobs too fat or stupid to overpower even a spindly teenager.
The only sparks of life in the entire production come from Ian McShane, who has a strong enough personality to make his scenes worth watching just for his commanding presence.
Too quick, too slight, and too cliched to make a splash in the company of such high-quality adaptations like LOTR and Harry Potter.
The bum execution ironically sheds light on just how dim this film about light and dark really is.
Related Forums
by: ReelReviewer.com 10/28/07
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