The Seeker: The Dark is Rising has most pieces of a great movie: conflicts, action, and cool special effects. However, it missed a few key things that would make it a great movie.

First off, this plot has been done before. Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) magically finds out he has powers on his 14th birthday. He stumbles upon an age-old battle against an age-old evil. He fights this evil; and you can guess the rest.

There are a few things that separate this movie from a completely mundane G-rated adventure movie. The whole Stanton family is involved with the movie. It is not merely The Adventures of Will Stanton. Because of this, it allows the viewer a larger chance to connect with someone. We all can’t be the fourteen-year-old boy that saves the world.

There were very few points where the movie jumped out and said “Boo! I bet you didn’t see that coming!” In a way, the lack of complexity made it worthwhile. There was idle time to ponder the situations the characters were put in, drink pop, and eat popcorn.

Clearly this movie wasn’t made for the typical college student – or movie reviewer. It was made for the kid who would get lost in the complex plot stories. There are no awkward love scenes, gory battle scenes, or overdramatic death scenes.

It’s fast-paced enough to keep you awake if you’re willing to pay attention. If you take a younger kid to the movie, you won’t have to put up with the kid asking, “What’s going on? What happened?”

After returning from this movie, a few people from my dorm left to see other movies geared towards the typical adult audience. I decided to skip out on this endeavor; figuring one cinematic experience was enough for the day.

In reality, I also feared I would fall in love with another movie and completely mar my view of this one. When they returned, I discovered most were disenchanted with their cinematic experience.

Because even though The Seeker isn’t great by any means, at least it didn’t get it all wrong.

-Trevor Seela