The only positive feedback from most critics went toward Christopher Eccleston's performance. The "New York Post"s Kyle Smith objected that, "Good and evil don't seem to be trying to destroy each other so much as come up with cool-looking effects to show off, as if they were competing in a 'Project Runway' for wizards... given superpowers, Will does approximately nothing with them." Gianni Truzzi of the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" opined that the movie lacked the "grandiose elements" of "magic rooted in its ties to Arthurian legend and British folklore" that made the books so memorable. The "Boston Globe"s Ty Burr panned the movie for not understanding its intended audience of book-readers, saying, "the producers have tried to gin up the story for multiplex audiences. They've succeeded in making a movie for no audience at all." And "The New York Times"'s Jeannette Catsoulis complained that "John Hodge's screenplay is frequently dreary and overly literal... "The Seeker" feels passé and lacks a charismatic lead." One of the few somewhat-positive reviews came from the "Chicago Tribune"s Kelley L. Carter, who said that "At its best, "The Seeker" is a pretty vivid fantasy book come-to-life" and found the lead character of Will Stanton to have been "played convincingly." Another came from the "Baltimore Sun"'s Michael Sragow, who found that "The Seeker" had "a lot going for it, including wonderful sets and locations...that create a heightened-reality English hamlet". Both gave the movie only 2½ stars out of 4.