The Dark is... um... well...

Here’s the trailer for The Dark is Rising.

I’ve met a lot of fans of Susan Cooper’s novels. My wife Anne, for one. I have a feeling the fans will pull out their hair when they see this. And no, I don’t mean in fits of excitement.

I mean, really, doesn’t this just look like a collage of tired fantasy cliches?

“Even the smallest light shines in the darkness.”

Here’s an article from back in May about just how far they’re going in “updating” the story.

Man, with the exception of Pan’s Labyrinth, it seems like every fantasy movie coming out these days serves to make us remember just what a master Peter Jackson really is. I’ve said many times that I’d rather not see him direct The Hobbit because I think he’d make it too dark, too violent, and carry it too far from its childrens’ story roots. But when I see a trailer like this, I start having nightmares about what might happen if he didn’t¬†it….

So help me, if I ever see Auralia’s Colors turned into a movie and packed full of tired old slogans like “We serve the light, they serve the dark,” I’ll have my name removed from the project.

Now, it could be that this is just a really, really bad trailer, and The Dark is Rising is going to be a masterpiece. I sincerely hope so. Nobody will be happier than me if the movie turns out to be great.

And by the way, did I hear a stormtrooper’s gun go off during one of the cuts in this trailer? I swear I did…

Fingers crossed for Stardust. I really hope that one delivers….