The Golden Compass Not a Bad Film!
I was pretty apprehensive about seeing the film version of "The Golden Compass", given what a great book it was, and given some of the distrubing things I had heard about it and which were popping up in previews--like calling the alethiometer "the Golden Compass" and saying that Mrs. Coulter was head of the Magisterium. Then it got such bad reviews....
But when I did see it last Friday I was pleasantly surprised at how much it stuck to the book, besides a few events being reordered and information being conveyed in a different way, not to mention hiding the religious stuff a bit and cutting the end (which was the thing that pissed me off the most--the Mrs. Coulter/Asriel scene was definitely what I was most looking forward to seeing in the film *points to avatar*, and the ending is so amazing I think it hurts the film to cut it!
But yeah, Kidman was amazing and spot on as Mrs. Coulter, just as I'd hoped for, Lyra was pretty much how I'd imagine her in the books, the animation was excellent (the monkey was just as creepy as in the books, the bears were sooo realistic looking!), and so much of the book was included, down to showing Lyra's life with Mrs. Coulter going to parties and shopping and stuff! Unlike in the previews, they did not change it so that Coulter was head of the Magisterium, and it turns out they still call it the alethiometer, but also the golden compass! And the voice-over explanation at the beginning was pretty good actually--not nearly as obnoxious as the stupid male VO in the trailers! I re-read the book last summer in prep, and they kept in a LOT, and lifted lots of dialogue directly from the book! I actually think this movie adaptation is a LOT more faithful to the books than the HP one is, not only as far as events and dialogue, but as far as being faithful to the characters as well, which this movie is in spades! It was very well done considering what a hard book it'd be to translate to the screen--I recommend it to any fan of the books and non-fans!
I really hope it does well! I WANT a second movie, esp. to see that freaking scene! :( So I'm really upset at all the negative press it's been getting and the low box office numbers, it doesn't deserve that at all--there are so many worse movies out there (Spiderman 3, Date Movie, Underworld Revolution, Babel, etc), and this one is quite enjoyable!
But when I did see it last Friday I was pleasantly surprised at how much it stuck to the book, besides a few events being reordered and information being conveyed in a different way, not to mention hiding the religious stuff a bit and cutting the end (which was the thing that pissed me off the most--the Mrs. Coulter/Asriel scene was definitely what I was most looking forward to seeing in the film *points to avatar*, and the ending is so amazing I think it hurts the film to cut it!
But yeah, Kidman was amazing and spot on as Mrs. Coulter, just as I'd hoped for, Lyra was pretty much how I'd imagine her in the books, the animation was excellent (the monkey was just as creepy as in the books, the bears were sooo realistic looking!), and so much of the book was included, down to showing Lyra's life with Mrs. Coulter going to parties and shopping and stuff! Unlike in the previews, they did not change it so that Coulter was head of the Magisterium, and it turns out they still call it the alethiometer, but also the golden compass! And the voice-over explanation at the beginning was pretty good actually--not nearly as obnoxious as the stupid male VO in the trailers! I re-read the book last summer in prep, and they kept in a LOT, and lifted lots of dialogue directly from the book! I actually think this movie adaptation is a LOT more faithful to the books than the HP one is, not only as far as events and dialogue, but as far as being faithful to the characters as well, which this movie is in spades! It was very well done considering what a hard book it'd be to translate to the screen--I recommend it to any fan of the books and non-fans!
I really hope it does well! I WANT a second movie, esp. to see that freaking scene! :( So I'm really upset at all the negative press it's been getting and the low box office numbers, it doesn't deserve that at all--there are so many worse movies out there (Spiderman 3, Date Movie, Underworld Revolution, Babel, etc), and this one is quite enjoyable!