The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising

If you have never read the book by Susan Cooper, you will likely enjoy this movie. However, if you have read the book, you will be very disapointed. They have made so many changes from the book it isn't even funny. (SPOILER ALERT) Let's make a list of some of the more obvious mistakes/changes: 1. Will Stanton is: a)polite and considerate instead of a girl crazy annoying whiny kid b)eleven years old instead of 14 c)ENGLISH, NOT AMERICAN (in fact his whole family is english) 2. Will Stanton's father is a jeweller, NOT some physics professer 3. Will has NO TWIN. They simply cut out one of his brothers and added a younger sister. (Gwen does appear in the book but as an OLDER sister. He should in fact have a couple older sisters.) 4. Will's family is very nice to him and loves him very much, as apposed to in the film where they are constantly throwing soccer balls at his head etc. 5. No one in Will's family ever knows about his trips into another world. They are all in fact frozen in time while he is completing these tasks. 6. They do not use the beautiful poetry of Susan Cooper. “When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, three from the circle, three from the track. Wood, bronze, iron, water, fire, stone. Five shall return and one go alone. ” Instead he reads a different passage from this weird seekers book. 7. THERE IS NO SEVENTH SIGN IN THE BOOK. I was sitting in the movie theatre thinking, What? There’s a seventh sign hidden in his soul? What? 8. The way in which he finds the signs is completely different from the book. He certainly doesn’t happen to find one in the mall at a dinky stall. Wow, these signs have been forged by this great ancestor of Will’s (who, by the way, is not in the book either) and hidden through time. One in a glass window, one in the remains of his own head... oh yeah, and there’s one in this ten dollar necklace that I hid in the jewellery store at the Pen Centre. If you want to know how he’s supposed to find the signs, here’s the poetry: “Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long. Wood from the burning, stone out of song. Fire from the candle ring, water from the thaw. Six signs the circle, the grail gone before. ” 9. The Rider does NOT have a secret identity as a nerdy doctor. 10. Where did the walker go? 11. Maggie Barnes is in the book described as an “rosy – cheeked farm girl, who had always reminded him of an apple. ” He does not fall in love with her (although she does like James) Although she is evil, she is not secretly old. 12. Merriman does not freak out on him (in fact, Will doesn’t have a time limit) 13. Although there is a big storm, everyone does not hide in Merriman’s house. They are FROZEN IN TIME throughout his adventures and HAVE NO IDEA about any of them. There is no big icicle thing either. That’s all I have time for right now. Yes, Carole, it should’ve been turkeys.