Fall Films: Coping with Change

"The Seeker" seems to prove the adage "you can't judge a book by its movie." Avid readers are willing to classify the book series by Susan Cooper on which "The Seeker" is based with "Narnia," "Lord of the Rings," and even "Harry Potter."

 

You sure can't tell from the movie.

 

I would go into the theological and philosophical problems I had with the film, except those points are moot: the film was damned by the worst sin of moviemaking—it was deadly dull. Not laughably bad, but it could be the basis of a course in how not to write a screenplay.

 

A boy, Will, turns eleven to discover he is the Seeker, the only one who can save the world from the Darkness. To do so, he has to find five signs. The movie consists of will's going through his town until a sign lights up, and he is thrown back through time to get it. The ending is easy to figure out from the beginning of the film.

 

There's nothing really objectionable in the film, which is rated PG. The younger kids I took were enthralled, the older ones were bored silly. If your children really want to rent it, fine, just make sure you've got something else to do.

 

There are three reasons "The Game Plan" works when other comedies in this genre (manly single man suddenly saddled with a small child) do not. The first is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He's not only good-looking and a passable actor, but he's a man with whom you'd actually consider leaving your child. (Vin Diesel and Jesse Ventura, not so much—sorry, guys.) He seems level-headed and basically decent, even if, according to the story, he's enjoying his NFL-star-salary and smorgasbord of babes. You can tell from the beginning that underneath is a reform-able guy. He's fun to watch.

 

Second is young Peyton Kelly. I was a little leery going in, as I'd only seen the young actress (she's currently 9 years old) doing very broad comedy on the Disney Channel's "Corey in the House." But she was able to hold her own with Dwayne, and even show some nuanced acting chops. You liked the little girl she was playing.

 

Finally, the script. The story was charming. Not inspired, not classic, but certainly charming. I was struck that the audience with whom I saw the film was the most racially diverse and gender-balanced I'd seen recently. Apparently it had football and babes to make it safe for the men and boys, and ballet, a cute child, and a redeemed bad boy for the girls and women. Put it together, and "The Game Plan" is a winner for family viewing.