A Golden Compass review, or why I should not be allowed to watch films based on my favourite books.
I want him :D (courtesy of
orlisroses29)
Well, what can I say? It was AMAZING. The special effects were supercool, my initial 'why is everything so clean' concern turned out to be unfounded as everything was grubby in Oxford like I expected, Oxford and the Magisterium looked great, Lyra actually spoke like Lyra in the books (a really good thing after Ron 'bloody hell' Weasley), Bolvangar was suitably creepy and the nurse there looked just like I imagined. The interaction between people and their daemons was spot on, too. I could appreciate more the animal that each person had corresponding to their personalities, like the people at Bolvangar with their obedient dog daemons. I was disturbed when Lyra and Pan went in the cutting machine, a sign that I'd bought the whole daemon thing and was disgusted at what the Magisterium were trying to do. And armoured bears FTFW! Pan, omg I heart him and want him in my pocket (was amused to see that he was voiced by Freddie Highmore, as my reaction after watching him in Finding Neverland was 'omg I heart him and want him in my pocket'). The fight outside Bolvangar was incredible and I want to be a witch and ride with Lee Scoresby in his balloon AND THEN IT ENDED. Erm, forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there at least another third of the book after that? Where was Roger dying and Asriel and Mrs Coulter arguing and breaking through into our world and the howge cliffhanger? It completely ruined the rest of the film with its happy clappy 'we're all in this together and we're going home and everything's ok cause we've got a fucking huge bear and a balloon' vibe. I've seen pics of Asriel breaking through so I can only assume they cut the end after a test screening or something cause people thought seeing a little boy die at the end of a kid's film would be too sad. It's not a kid's book, so it shouldn't be marketed at small children. The whole point of Roger being there at the end is so that he can die and give Lyra a reason to go on and avenge him, that's her whole reason for carrying on with what she's doing. Grrr. I'm assuming they'll tack that bit onto the beginning of The Subtle Knife, though it would be weird to have a cliffhanger at the beginning of a film. Sorry, rant over, I just don't like having my favourite books messed with. I swear, if there isn't a Snape shaped hole in the window in the Deathly Hallows film, I'm walking out. I should not be allowed to go to the cinema.
I saw a trailer for the new Michael Gondry film, 'Be Kind Rewind' (which is a weird trailer choice before a kid film, but anyway), and it is so on my must see list. Watch out for Jack Black trying to sing the Ghostbusters theme, teehee.