My Thoughts on the "Golden Compass"
I've just recently seen "The Golden Compass" at the movie theater. I have mixed feelings about the movie. I read the trilogy several years ago. I am currently re-reading them. I've just finished "The Golden Compass" and have just begun "The Subtle Knife". I've really enjoyed the books.
The movie is something of a mixed bag for me. The movie is visually spectacular. The CGI blends seamlessly with the live action elements. The acting is also quite good. The mixed feeling comes from the story itself. The book is quite long and so the screen writers had to adapt the movie with time constraints in mind. The result is somewhat of a rushed feeling. Things seemed to happen a little too quickly.
The way events happen in the movie are different from the book in almost every regard. For instants, Lyra knows of Tony Makarios (a gyptian child) and has met him once or twice in the book, but in the movie the two are friends.
The end result of the events in the movie is the same as the book (or very similar) but *how* each event happens is quite different. For example, Lyra first meets Serafina Pekkala in the book, Lyra meets her daemon first. In the movie, Lyra meets Serafina and you never do see the witch's daemon.
A friend saw the movie before me and suggested that it would have been better to view the movie without having read the book so soon because the differences between the two were distracting. He was right. I think I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn't just finished re-reading the first book.
Bottom line, I enjoyed the movie and I think they did a good job overall, but the differences between the the movie and the book were somewhat distracting. I will re-watch the movie when it's released on DVD. That way, some time will have passed from my reading the book and maybe I will enjoy the movie more.
The movie is something of a mixed bag for me. The movie is visually spectacular. The CGI blends seamlessly with the live action elements. The acting is also quite good. The mixed feeling comes from the story itself. The book is quite long and so the screen writers had to adapt the movie with time constraints in mind. The result is somewhat of a rushed feeling. Things seemed to happen a little too quickly.
The way events happen in the movie are different from the book in almost every regard. For instants, Lyra knows of Tony Makarios (a gyptian child) and has met him once or twice in the book, but in the movie the two are friends.
The end result of the events in the movie is the same as the book (or very similar) but *how* each event happens is quite different. For example, Lyra first meets Serafina Pekkala in the book, Lyra meets her daemon first. In the movie, Lyra meets Serafina and you never do see the witch's daemon.
A friend saw the movie before me and suggested that it would have been better to view the movie without having read the book so soon because the differences between the two were distracting. He was right. I think I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn't just finished re-reading the first book.
Bottom line, I enjoyed the movie and I think they did a good job overall, but the differences between the the movie and the book were somewhat distracting. I will re-watch the movie when it's released on DVD. That way, some time will have passed from my reading the book and maybe I will enjoy the movie more.