Last night I finally saw The Golden Compass, after anticipating its release for months. The movie itself was amazing. My major concerns in the production process were resolved, although I have new ones. I’m not going to write a long review, because that job is better done by my favorite His Dark Materials fansite (SPOILER WARNING), but I have some thoughts. Read on, but beware, there are spoilers. I write my review as commentary intended for someone who has both read the books and seen the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, see it! I loved it, and I bet you will too.
The first thing I noticed about Lyra’s world is how unlike it is from my expectations of it. It’s bright, shiny, and beautiful. The beauty carries throughout the entire movie, with awesome special effects. Matching the special effects are its actors, who were aptly casted. Dakota Blue Richards was Lyra, as other reviewers and Pullman himself have said.
The press has been hard on The Golden Compass so far, painting it as “atheism for children”. Hogwash. This film is not an atheist’s dream. Although the Magisterium may resemble the Roman Catholic Church of times past, that is the viewer’s connection to draw. To me, its theme is more easily interpreted as being against totalitarian authority. I must admit though, before I think of Soviet Russia, I think of the Church. I complained in the past that watering down the anti-religious theme bothered me, but in this film adaptation, I’m satisfied.
The Golden Compass moved far too fast for my liking, and some of the differentiations from the book (explained in the review I linked to) do bother me. If I had not previously read the trilogy, I may have been confused. The trips to Svalbard and Bolvanger were reversed, and there were no mentions of Grumman, a critical character in subsequent books.
The movie contained a controversial ending. Rather than Roger’s inevitable death and an opening to a new world, as written in Pullman’s book, the movie ends with Lee, Serafina, Lyra, Roger, and Iorek in Lee’s aircraft, with an uplifting speech given by Lyra. This ending gives suspense, yes, but I still find the original ending better. Philip Pullman’s take on the movie’s ending is can be seen in video here.
In the theatre that I watched the movie in, there were several annoyances. Loud children who wouldn’t keep quiet sat in the row behind my viewing party. The children kept yelling about shiny things or bears, which agitated me to no end. In redemption, there was a warm theatre-wide celebration when Iorek took the jaw off the king of the bears. An adult woman revealed her character to us as she watched the film. When Mrs. Coulter hits her Daemon, the theatre-goer declared, “How could she hit her daemon? That’s her soul, isn’t it? I wouldn’t hit my soul.” The symbolism wasn’t very hard to spot, which made her comments particularly entertaining. I, for one, laughed aloud.
I have one pressing question. Will I get to see a The Subtle Knife movie?
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