adaptation comparison - How does the Movie, "The Seeker - The Dark is Rising" compare to the books by Susan Cooper?

I've not seen the movie, but I really enjoyed the books as a child and I am getting a literature unit ready for my daughter using the books. I wondered how faithful the movie is to the books in considering whether to plan on watching it after we are done reading or not.

I would like an answer with a little detail. I'm quite certain it won't follow the stories exactly, but what is changed? Missing characters? Huge chunks of plot or just small tweaks? Does it correspond to Over Sea Under Stone or do its creators try to fold all five movies into one? I really don't want, "Great movie, but nothing like the book." Or "Movie sucked, don't watch it." Please include the WHY. Thanks.

Answer

It hurt to watch this movie! It is based on the book "The Dark Is Rising", but was badly altered, it seems, in the name of making it more commercial. I have tried to wipe it from my mind, but quite a few things stayed with me:

The wonderful, caring, loving Stanton family was messed about with, diminished, siblings chopped out and pointless conflict and hate added.

Merriman's character was severely diminished.

Will has an evil twin.

They became American, I guess also for marketing purposes.

Will is older, because maybe there are too many 11-year-old magic users?

There is a love interest.

Pretty much all the beautiful Celtic myths were chucked out - ie, the heart of the story.

This is an interview with Susan Cooper. Please note the last lines,

"Cooper is waiting for the movie, but with a certain sadness. She says she sent a letter requesting changes to the film's script, but she's not sure any alterations were made."

This is one review: http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-seeker-the-dark-is-rising,3258/

This is the IMDB page, there is a fairly accurate review at the end of the page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0484562/?ref_=sr_1

(There is also a wikipedia page, but I'm not sure how people here feel about links to wikipedia?)

You could maybe watch it with your daughter as an exercise in how books are converted to movies, but I really wouldn't recommend it.

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