4. The Dark Is Rising Sequence
The Dark is Rising is Susan Coopers immense fantasy series, following the fortunes of Will Stanton, an 11 year old boy who discovers he is immortal and destined to play a central role in an immense and ageless battle between the forces of Dark and Light. Written across more than a decade through the 1960s and 70s, the five books still command a pretty serious following, and the second entry in the series The Dark is Rising finally made it to the cinema in 2007. This would have been great news, but the film itself was the worst kind of cash-in, based not on the strength or success of the source material but on the wayward assumption that audiences would jump on board anything made in the great fantasy gold-rush that followed the Lord of the Rings. Garnering a princely 14% on RottenTomatoes, the adaptation of the first of Susan Coopers classic fantasy series was a serious disappointment in almost every department and bearing only the vaguest connection to the book it was adapted from. Gone are various aspects of backstory that make any of the film relevant or engaging; several key characters are either given lip service or are left out altogether; Will himself is both older and American, rather than British, a clear attempt to target those key demographics. Further, needless action sequences were added to make things that little bit more interesting. In particular, the entire mythology of the series was conspicuously missing, with many speculating that the Celtic-Arthurian and overtly pagan mythology was at odds with the Christian ethos of the studio. The whole thing comes across as a vacuous, tedious shell of a film, a turgid exercise going through the motions of plot while removing the very heart and soul of the source material. Just because a film was a failure in every department doesnt mean that the series is worth throwing aside. The value is still there, in the books themselves. As with the best in fantasy, the series successfully fuses engrossing personal journeys and relationships with grand, universal concerns in a way that doesnt feel forced. It says something about the strength of the books that they can still be relevant and command attention a full forty years after the first was published - particularly in a genre (fantasy) that has a greater range and depth of epic series and would-be franchises than any other. These are books that need to be made into films. Start from scratch and do it right, and theres no knowing how great this series could be.