His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass

[Select]

http://imdb.com/title/tt0385752/

I'm so excited for the movie, but it's been ages since I read the books. I remember loving them to death and I vaguely remember the basic plot. But, looking at who they cast, something in the back of my mind is telling me that's not how I had imagined the characters when I read. Whatever, I'll read them again if/when I get the time.

Anyway, it's a great series and I highly recommend the books before the movie comes out!

[Rsak]

You are delusional if you think they won't ruin it like just about every other book to movie translation. Nicole Kidman might be able to pull off this role, but I have doubts.

Not to mention the fact that the Christian Right will flame it and denounce it.

[Ddrak]

Not to mention the fact that the Christian Right will flame it and denounce it.

When did that last hurt a movie?

Dd

[Rsak]

In the box office not lately... but with this subject material I guarantee it will be a consideration for the script. They want to have a successful movie so that they can finance the 2nd and 3rd.

With an open mind you can read the novels and see it honor the tenets of Christianity, yet trailers and movies aren't the best ways to handle controversial material and find open minds.

I am not saying it is impossible, but I seriously doubt they can stay true to the novels and get all 3 movies made and if they compress it into 1 movie.. the story will suffer.

[Select]

Oh, I expect it to suck greatly in compared to the book, but I'll still see it... kinda the same way they dragged those Eragon fans to the movie.

[Rsak]

There were only 2 enjoyable parts of that movie. The birth of the baby dragon and Jeremy Irons.

[Ddrak]

Ok - went and saw this one tonight. It was actually pretty decent and remained relatively true to the first book.

The Good:
- Casting was excellent. Even though Mrs. Coulter was dark in the book, Kidman was stunning in the role and the blonde worked quite well. Similarly Serafina was blonde in the book but worked well as dark in the movie.
- Daemons were brilliantly visualized. Lively, true to character and natural.
- Steampunk technology everywhere was fun to watch.

Neutral:
- Reordered some stuff from the book, but wasn't a huge issue in my mind. Probably flowed better as a film the way it was presented in the movie.
- Stopped about one chapter short of the end of the first book. Those who have read the books will know what I mean here.

The Bad:
- Felt a little rushed and jumped around a lot at the start to set things up. Could have done with more scenes around Oxford especially to firm up Lyra's character and the nature of the Gyptians. Similarly it could have done with more about the Gyptian meeting, and more development of the witches who seemed more of a Deus Ex Machina the way they came out in the film rather than the more complete explanation in the books.
- It annoyed me that the essentially gave away 90% of the story arc in the introductory voiceover.

The Stupid:
- There is nothing in *this* movie the church has to complain about. I know the next two are going to be pretty much heretical (assuming they go forward with them) but the church is going to look seriously stupid trying to explain exactly what it is about *this* movie that they object to.

Dd

[Klast Brell]

The current complaint I have seen is that the movie will cause people to read the books. The books will then make their children gay, communist, French, liberal and possibly atheist.

[Finglefinn]

- It annoyed me that the essentially gave away 90% of the story arc in the introductory voiceover.

You kind of have to do that in the movies because every novel-based film can't be a 3 part, 9 hour epic.

[Harlowe]

I just saw this and really enjoyed it. Visually it was perty and the acting was well done. I was most impressed that none of the children were lame (like Narnia).

[Ddrak]

- It annoyed me that the essentially gave away 90% of the story arc in the introductory voiceover.

You kind of have to do that in the movies because every novel-based film can't be a 3 part, 9 hour epic.

This is true, but a big part of the book was discovering what dust was as Lyra discovered it. The movie tells you exactly what it is in the voiceover. I suspect that was added later after screen tests when the audience went away wondering what this whole dust thing was (because it doesn't get explained until the second or third book).

Honestly, the movie really needed an extra hour. Fitting a book this complex into a 113 minute film was bound to cause issues.

Dd

[Finglefinn]

113 minutes is lame. LoTR's were all over 2 hours, not counting the extended versions.

[Rsak]

Since the movie deals with people's souls then the traditionalists can and will complain. Rational people will laugh at the condemnation however.

However they are mainly focusing on the path into evil via the books.

They should have finished the last chapter in the movie, because the way it ended it was a positive upbeat position rather then downtrodden and dark where the book ended. Not to mention the cliffhanger in the book was better.

[Garrdor]

Golden Compass

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