The Seeker: The Dark is Rising

“The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” to be blunt, is a dud. The plot is redundant: a young boy, Will, must fight the forces of evil. (Harry Potter does it so much better.) The special effects are pedestrian. (See the Trilogy of the Rings, or "Stardust," a movie on a smaller scale.) And the young lead (Alexander Ludwig) is not charismatic enough to carry a movie. I like fantasy-type films, but this one just doesn’t make the grade. (10/6/07)