We Got Movie Sign!
It's time, once again, for my patented Two-Minute Review of The Golden Compass.
[I should, perhaps preface this review by saying that I, personally, wasn't the biggest fan of the novels this series is based on, although the writing is, on the whole, good.]
Someone once said (and for the life of me I can't remember who) that movies are properly short stories, not novels, and nowhere is that point better exemplified than it is in this movie. In a way that should be noticeable even to people who have never read the book, the movie gallops through the first three-fourths of the novel pausing only long enough to introduce characters and show important conversations, in order to spend a long chunk of time on the two major set pieces at the climax of the story. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, we're explicitly told quite a number of things that are simply revealed throughout the course of the novel.
The plot revolves around mysterious "Dust" that flows into this world from other worlds, and becomes attracted to a person just about the same time they enter puberty. Lord Asriel is out to study the dust, and find a way to travel across to the worlds it comes from. Lyra, our plucky protagonist, sets off to the farthest north to find him. Mrs. Coulter wants to prevent people from attracting the Dust. Also, despite everything I've heard on the internets, there wasn't even a single mention of deicide in the entire film.
I've mentioned before how the entire series of novels totaling over a thousand pages can be summed up by the phrase "when you reach puberty, everything changes," but the movie adds (or else I've forgotten it from the book) an element of Original Sin into the mix as well.
The acting is very good, and most of the casting choices are very solid. The world is very pretty, and has a copious use of a very singular Steampunk. The CGI is excellent, and the Human/CGI interaction is good enough that they must have used practical stand-ins for people to react to.
The movie's only major flaw really seems to be the pacing, as it scrambles to fit everything in without adding another hour to the film. Lyra is supposed to be held semi-captive by Mrs. Coulter for a few weeks before she begins to distrust her, but in the movie it seems like she's getting impatient after her first night there. The entire movie seems almost to take place over a long weekend, and in fact, the final third of the movie appears to all happen in about 20 hours.
Overall, it was a cute film, and definitely worth the watching. If they could only have found some way to slow it down, and give the impression of time passing that it needs, it would have been extremely good.
Final Grade: A-
[I should, perhaps preface this review by saying that I, personally, wasn't the biggest fan of the novels this series is based on, although the writing is, on the whole, good.]
Someone once said (and for the life of me I can't remember who) that movies are properly short stories, not novels, and nowhere is that point better exemplified than it is in this movie. In a way that should be noticeable even to people who have never read the book, the movie gallops through the first three-fourths of the novel pausing only long enough to introduce characters and show important conversations, in order to spend a long chunk of time on the two major set pieces at the climax of the story. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, we're explicitly told quite a number of things that are simply revealed throughout the course of the novel.
The plot revolves around mysterious "Dust" that flows into this world from other worlds, and becomes attracted to a person just about the same time they enter puberty. Lord Asriel is out to study the dust, and find a way to travel across to the worlds it comes from. Lyra, our plucky protagonist, sets off to the farthest north to find him. Mrs. Coulter wants to prevent people from attracting the Dust. Also, despite everything I've heard on the internets, there wasn't even a single mention of deicide in the entire film.
I've mentioned before how the entire series of novels totaling over a thousand pages can be summed up by the phrase "when you reach puberty, everything changes," but the movie adds (or else I've forgotten it from the book) an element of Original Sin into the mix as well.
The acting is very good, and most of the casting choices are very solid. The world is very pretty, and has a copious use of a very singular Steampunk. The CGI is excellent, and the Human/CGI interaction is good enough that they must have used practical stand-ins for people to react to.
The movie's only major flaw really seems to be the pacing, as it scrambles to fit everything in without adding another hour to the film. Lyra is supposed to be held semi-captive by Mrs. Coulter for a few weeks before she begins to distrust her, but in the movie it seems like she's getting impatient after her first night there. The entire movie seems almost to take place over a long weekend, and in fact, the final third of the movie appears to all happen in about 20 hours.
Overall, it was a cute film, and definitely worth the watching. If they could only have found some way to slow it down, and give the impression of time passing that it needs, it would have been extremely good.
Final Grade: A-