If Harry Potter had been a character in a Disney version of Lord of the Rings directed by Michael Bay, theatre goers would have seen ‘The Dark Is Rising’ nearly a decade sooner. In much the same way ‘Stardust’ tried too hard to combine every garish cliche of modern-period piece and magical folklore, this film thinks far too highly of its less-than-lavish sets and self-impressed story concept.
The time-travel effect, created by something akin to spinning the camera on axis while tossing handfuls of glitter and twittling fingers in an act reminiscent of the Wayne and Garth’s ‘doodeleee-doo doodelee-doo’ multiple endings, is especially distracting.
Also puzzling about the film is the far too obvious attempt to bridge the gap between serious fantasy and children’s entertainment. While positioning itself with serious supporting actors and valiantly attempted larger-than-life set pieces, the film undermines its own intent with a wisecracking kid who’s clueless as a hero and is a perfect caricature of every attention-deficit diagnosed pre-teen with an attitude problem on a Nickelodeon diet.
In short, this film is a spectacular . . . as a culture study with regard to why the human race will become extinct within the next fifty years if left in the hands of the average modern youth as educated by the average modern film maker . . . but as a film . . . not so much.
Technorati Tags: Seeker, The Dark Is Rising, Wane’s World, Stardust, Harry Potter, Michael Bay, Lord of the Rings, Nickelodeon, extinction
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