If Susan Cooper Were Dead, She’d Be Rolling in Her Grave
July 12th, 2007
Since she is still alive, I assume she must be desperately in need of money to allow this abysmal-looking adaptation of The Dark Is Rising to be made. It looks like the worst children’s book adaptation since Ella Enchanted, which made mincemeat (and imitation-Shrek mincemeat at that) out of Gail Carson Levine’s delightful novel.
Just take a look at the trailer. Or don’t. Up to you.
They’ve CHANGED THE SETTING TO AMERICA! For some books, this works fine (e.g., A Little Princess), but not The Dark Is Rising. It’s so dependent on its British setting. Since when did Herne the Hunter roam the forests of North America? And this immediately rules out sequels that have anything to do with the books, because the rest of the books in the series revolve around the Arthurian legend. We ain’t got no King Arthur here.
And the rest of it? The adolescent-crush emphasis, the cheap humor . . . arrghhh! I can’t go on. I’m going to go kick things now and then hug my book in consolation.
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3 Comments Add your own
1. Pop Otter | July 13th, 2007 at 11:12 am
My favorite sentence at the website is, “Based on the acclaimed novel by Susan Cooper, THE DARK IS RISING is the first film adaptation of the author’s acclaimed The Dark Is Rising Sequence.” Is Cooper’s book and series acclaimed, or what? And what is that title again? Does the movie title by chance have any resemblance to this repeated book title? If so, it appears to be about the only area in which the movie closely resembles the book.
But there is hope. The sentence reminds us that this is only the FIRST (My capitalizing technique should be credited to the source) film adaptation of the book. Let’s move right on to the second adaptation, and let the second adaptation stay true to the setting and tone of the book. It will not work without it.
2. Dormouse | July 15th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Since when did Herne the Hunter roam the forests of North America?
Well, since Charles de Lint got ahold of him…
Actually, I don’t think de Lint’s ever directly used Herne, but he’s used the idea.
But I’ve heard about how bad this looks. I’m *so* disappointed. Ugh.
3. Eve | July 19th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Actually, they’ve taken Herne out of the storyline, along with the Arthurian legends. And Will, now a thirteen-year-old American boy, is much more violent than in the book.
Oh! And from everything I’ve heard, Susan Cooper sold the film rights to Jim Henson’s company years and years ago, and -they- sold the rights to Walden. It’s all very sad.
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