Golden Compass

Definitely begging for a sequel, probably a trilogy easy enough. The polar bear warriors were by far the coolest thing about the movie - the voices are pretty recognizable and the acting wasn't too shabby. Nicole Kidman's plumped out top lip is pretty cool in this one as Mrs Coulter - she does sexy bad chick very well. The main character is a cute little actress with a cockney accent that seems to fad in and out - can't cry worth a crap though.

Special effects were amazing, actors pretty good - but overall the movie was slow and had a very lack luster ending - at least the last 5 minutes after the big battle. The polar bear fight was friggin KICK ASS. Modern technology is a wonder.

Verileah 17 years ago
Yeah it's a trilogy. And they lopped off a good portion of the ending to slap onto the beginning of the next movie, from what I hear - I'm boggled by this, quite frankly, because the ending is, like...the answer to a question at the beginning of the book :\. Not sure what they did there. I'll see it - the first book was very good but I hear the quality deteriorates.
Den 17 years ago
Nice to hear at least one good review
FyreGarnett 17 years ago
I want to see this - for nothing else than to figure out why the Catholic Church is in such an uproar over it!! (Something about promoting atheism.... supposd to make Harry Potter look good!)
Verileah 17 years ago
I think it's not so much just that the books have strong atheist leanings (though from what I understand, this is much more present in the later books and is ultimately what spoiled them - the author's philosophies became too transparent, too heavy handed) as that they have anti-religious leanings. You don't see it so much in the first book and I'd guess the movie watered that down.

There's basically an organization in the books that (some people argue) represents the catholic church. To me, there's a certain amount of 'well if the shoe fits' going on here. They saw this book that criticizes the religious institution and said 'hey, that's us! wtf?!'

Only the Catholic church probably doesn't say wtf.
Den 17 years ago
Verileah;91203

Only the Catholic church probably doesn't say wtf.


I dunno, cussing and drinking are two things the Catholics DON'T take issue with...at least from what I've seen
Jetamio 17 years ago
I LOVED the book, I almost put Lyra as my char for the once upon a crayon. I want to see this real bad lol. I hope they havent nerfed the story too much for the film though. Though I am curious as to why they changed the name of it, and its not a compass its an alethiometer.

As for the religious aspect, I think it represents the control the Church in general used to have over our way of life. If they didnt like something they forbid it, said it was evil to scare people into not doing something that might make them turn from the Church (and then no money coming into the Church coffers). Anything not understood was evil.
I don't know enough about the different sects of Christianity to be able to pinpoint if it was directed at Catholics or not, but I do think it was a pop at the Church in some form. Like Verileah said, this is much more apparent in the other two books, particularly the third iirc.

Hmm, makes me want to read it again hehe.
Trakhina 17 years ago
The movie is beautiful to look at, the animal animation is wonderful and the actors delightful. The story seriously lacked. Since I haven't read the books, there's nothing to compare it to as to where it went wrong and who's to blame.
ROzbeans 17 years ago
What I did like about the entire storyline was the attachment between humans and their demons which basically makes up their soul. They are never without them and they can't go far - pain is shared, as well. It really broke my heart when they showed one poor kid without his demon. The cute little kid in Willy Wonka played Lyra's little demon and they did such a great job on the 3d animals/demons too. In the story, children's demons eventually settle on a shape, but till then they can continue to shape shift by will. I don't know, I thought that was a cute part of the movie. /blush
Jetamio 17 years ago
I always wanted a deamon after reading it, it would probably have settled as a sloth for me though.
FyreGarnett 17 years ago
It's actually pretty common for books to be released under different names in the US and Europe - it pretty much depends on how it will translate. For whatever reason, when this book was published in the states, they changed the name from Nothern Lights to The Golden Compass... near as I can tell, the other 2 were relased with the same name. *shrug* I don't get it and I suspect that they are going to have to drop that practice as there is too much communication happening between countries, what with the 'net and all!
Vishanti 17 years ago
Den;91208
I dunno, cussing and drinking are two things the Catholics DON'T take issue with...at least from what I've seen
Yeah, I'm named after my uncle, a Catholic priest. We visited him in Rome one year for Christmas, and I was talking to my sister about something near him. I was afraid to say anything wrong around him, so I think I lowered my voice so he wouldn't hear. That caught his attention, and he asked me what was so bad I wouldn't say it near him. Then when I wouldn't say, he correctly guessed what word it was and went on an amusing little f-bomb binge. "What, just because I'm a priest I'm going to burn when I hear someone say, 'fuck?' Fuck. No, fuckity-fuck. I think I'm fucked." And so on.
Darsa 17 years ago
Oh, I absolutely LOVED this movie. The daemons, the way they changed for the kids... the WITCHES omg the way she just appears *gasp* and the way they KICK ASS in the little battle near the end... that little boy's dog daemon OMG how stinking ADORABLE was he... and the way the shifting was done was soooo wonderful and mystical, I was enchanted throughout most of the movie. And the polar bears... W O W!!

I'm thinkin' I might get the books for my daughter for Christmas... so I can read 'em
Verileah 17 years ago
I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with the witches in the movie .
Adiene 17 years ago
Loved the movie , great CG lacked in a few parts but totally made up for it in others Kids loved it too . The whole theater gasped at the bear fight it was like gasp omg" then yay! lol Its funny cuz going to movies here in UK differs from going in the US . well for me atleast.. The whole time I have been here I have only see the people in the show actually get into one movie and it was Star wars after my hubby did his Wookie impression (which is uber good) the whole theter laughed and clapped but thats was it till this movie. I was impressed and obvisouly so was the rest lol
The witches fighting was great my daughter was like wow they are like so graceful when they fight too! look ~! lol
Jetamio 17 years ago
Hehe, you should have seen us when we went to see Jurassic Park. You know the bit where the raptor jumps through the ceiling? Like the whole room tucked their feet up lol, was hilarious looking back on it though I was shit scared at the time (I was only like 8 or something lol)
Jetamio 17 years ago
*** SPOILER ALERT!!***









































































What the hell, they left off the ending! In the book they go to Asriel, he takes Roger with Lyra hot on his heels, Roger falls off the cliff while another is holding his deamon so dies. The energy expended by the separation powers the gateway to the new world, Mrs Coulter caught them up somewhere among all this and she and Asriel have a wee lovers tiff before he goes through the gate and Lyra goes through after him.
Oh and it was the Gyptians who told her who her parents were, not Mrs Coultar.

Other than that, it was great! My 7 year old sister (whom I 'kidnapped' for an excuse to go see it and con Dad into paying for us to go :P) got scared at some bits though, but she's scared of her own shadow so...
Verileah 17 years ago
Might want to put in a spoilers warning there, Jet...:X
Jetamio 17 years ago
Woops, changed. >.<