The Golden Compass
I've been waiting for this movie for quite a while to be honest, ever since I first heard they were going to adapt the Pullman novels into movies. Over all iit was not a disappointment, though there were some major changes between book and movie, but there always are. Some of them I understood, others I did not. For instance the movie did not end where the book did, and I am actually pretty happy with that cjhoice, as they ended it where I would have. The end of the book would have been a pretty bad place to end the movie.
Like the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies there were things left out of the film that did not add to the story that they were telling. In some of these cases I am not happy, since they were some of my favorite scenes in the book. This is especially true of the choice to leave out a scene involving Serefina. They also made other changes to work in major points of the book, without having them exactly the same. Lyra's test by the witches to prove she is the girl they have a prophecy about is different in the book than in the movie.
On the other hand, I thought the majority of the acting was good, and the way they did daemons was very good. Iorek, who is a favorite of mine, was well done as well. Sam Elliott as Lee Scoresby was a good choice as well. There was no one that I sat there and thought they were just terrible at the role.
There are some that I have heard of complaining about the decision to not make the Magisterium too like the Catholic church. However, I believe they went out of their way to get the main point across. That being that an organization, a religious one even, trying to control everyone and everything is something that should be fought against.
I do wish the movie had been longer to fit in more of the scenes I would have liked to see, but I think it is shorter than the LotR is that it is aimed more at children than those films were and children are not so good at staying still for too long. I also am not certain why the mixed up the order of at least two key scenes, but again the main story was told and the points were made, and in an acceptable way to me. Overall, I am pleased by it.
Like the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies there were things left out of the film that did not add to the story that they were telling. In some of these cases I am not happy, since they were some of my favorite scenes in the book. This is especially true of the choice to leave out a scene involving Serefina. They also made other changes to work in major points of the book, without having them exactly the same. Lyra's test by the witches to prove she is the girl they have a prophecy about is different in the book than in the movie.
On the other hand, I thought the majority of the acting was good, and the way they did daemons was very good. Iorek, who is a favorite of mine, was well done as well. Sam Elliott as Lee Scoresby was a good choice as well. There was no one that I sat there and thought they were just terrible at the role.
There are some that I have heard of complaining about the decision to not make the Magisterium too like the Catholic church. However, I believe they went out of their way to get the main point across. That being that an organization, a religious one even, trying to control everyone and everything is something that should be fought against.
I do wish the movie had been longer to fit in more of the scenes I would have liked to see, but I think it is shorter than the LotR is that it is aimed more at children than those films were and children are not so good at staying still for too long. I also am not certain why the mixed up the order of at least two key scenes, but again the main story was told and the points were made, and in an acceptable way to me. Overall, I am pleased by it.