The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising

Another 14-year-old boy discovers the future of humanity depends on his magical powers in this over-familiar fantasy adventure adapted from the acclaimed series of novels by British writer Susan Cooper. Her fans are appalled by what they see as this dumbed-down version, minus the Arthurian mythology underpinning the original story, and their distress is understandable. Screenwriter John Hodge (he of ‘Trainspotting’ fame) struggles to bring much resonance to the proceedings because he’s too busy explaining the plot – then explaining it all over again. So, Alexander Ludwig’s hesitant hero, whose American family have relocated to the English countryside, learns from enigmatic butler Ian McShane that he is ‘The Seeker’, whose task it is to locate a series of tokens secreted throughout time, enabling the forces of ‘The Light’ to vanquish ‘The Dark’ (as represented by Christopher Eccleston’s not-that-scary ‘Rider’). Got that? Well, for some reason there are only five days before the evils of rising CGI lay waste to this rural enclave, but without much tension, imagination or self-deprecating humour, it’s hard to care. A total dud.