The Golden Compass

[octothorpe]

So I finally got to see the flick. Mind you, I haven't read the books, so I can only review based on what I saw. In short, I rather enjoyed it. It really does seem to be the antithesis of the Narnia Chronicles. Instead of a lion being an allegory to Jesus, you have a polar bear with free will. I like polar bears. I like free will.

The acting was good, even by most of the child actors. Much better than the Harry Potter kids. As for the plot, there were times in the film where it felt rushed, and I think it could have used an extra 30 minutes or so. Studios and film houses however, want films to be short, so they can turn over the seats and make more dollars, which leads us to bad pacing. How about we stop catering to the twitch-society, mmkay?

There were several scenes in the film that I found amusing. For those that don't know, or haven't seen it, the story takes place in an alternate universe where our "souls" exist outside our bodies in the corporeal form of an animal called a demon. The type of animal is fluid throughout childhood, but settles when the child becomes of age (puberty?). The humans and the demons operate semi-independently. If something happens to the demon, the human is affected, and vise-versa. If the demon dies, the human does as well Nicole Kidman's (Mrs. Coulter, no, not Ann) character has a golden monkey as a demon, and her personal inner turmoil plays out on several occasions, including one where she slaps the hell out of her monkey. I think I was one of 3 people in the entire audience that "got" that joke.

I mentioned one of the major themes is about free will. In this, it's actually very similar to zombie films, as they both social commentary. The Magisterum (the governing body, akin to the catholic church) wants to control knowledge, and what you can and cannot do, say, or think. Zombies want to eat your brains, so you will be like them, and create more unthinking zombies. The film isn't as clever as some of the better zombie flicks I've seen in delivering this social commentary, but I hear the books are quite good in that regard. I'll have to pick them up. It's a bit of a shame they came out at the same time as the Harry Potter books, and thus got buried by the great social phenomenon that is HP (no, not the sauce, pay attention).

I've heard they may or may not make the sequels purely based on the box office earnings. Considering the timing of release in the US (the worst grossing period in the year), it doesn't look good. More is the shame, as I would like to see those on the big screen. I just wanna see some kids kill god.

If you haven't seen the flick, do so. It's enjoyable. Don't try to compare it to LotR. It's just not that epic, and you don't have the same history with the story. If you do compare them, you'll just be disappointed. I am hoping the DVD will have heaps of extra footage.

Comments

from the sounds of it

[laitechs.livejournal.com]

i think i'll wait until the dvd comes out.

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

Actually i enjoyed the film very much. In some points its almost word for word. For those that have read the book the one piece of anguish is that they cut off the final 10 or so chapters as to "tack the unhappier ending" onto the beginning of the 2nd film. This was really distressing as i had seen clips of the ending (and read that it was all filmed)...and the studio decided to have a "happier" ending.

The "oh my gosh" ending that was clipped off would have assured a 2nd film would be made. much more than the "ballon floating off into the sunset" ending the studios left it with.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Iiiinteresting. I knew the film ended before the book, but I didn't realise it was *that* truncated. I think I know the "shocking" ending to which you refer. I would have *loved* to see that as an ending.

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

email me if you want me to tell you the ending...

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

oh, I read the synopsis on Wikipedia. I don't mind spoilers.

[gryphons-hole.livejournal.com]

I wants this!
Perhaps Kuma and I should go see it this weekend...

Um... No not the sauce...? Um, sorry, I just got stuck thinking about my PC...

And is it not daemons?

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

It may be, but both spellings are acceptable. Remember, I didn't read the books. (or dæmons if you want to be pedantic)


HP Sauce is a popular sauce in UK for putting on, well, prettymuch everything.

[gryphons-hole.livejournal.com]

I haven't read them, either. I only mentioned it since the variant demon seems to have fallen more to Christian tainting. Although they may now be equated to each other, daemon (I don't know how to make the fancy letters outside of Adobe...) is list listed as a guardian or guide without the connotation of evil.

Not meaning to harp here, just wanting some clarity.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Also, daemon (ae spelling) is used in BSD, and other UNIX (and UNIX-like) operating systems, as a generic name for a bit of software that has no user-level UI. (like the http daemon, or the ftp daemon)

I've always thought daemon was the more common UK spelling and demon the more common US spelling. They both mean the same things.

[fuzzyjay.livejournal.com]

The connotations have drifted apart.

[inbhirnis.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to catch the film when I return to the homeland this week - will see it with my sister and brother-in-law. I've gotten about a third of the way through the first book, and was hoping to finish it before seeing the film, but that's probably not going to happen. Oh, well - sometimes it's better to see a movie not having read the book, because I'm often (unreasonably) disappointed when a movie doesn't conform to my imagining of the book.

Looking forward to some HP sauce back home, too..! :-)

[servato.livejournal.com]

I saw the film without reading the book as well and was glad there was a film to counter the Narnia series.

Basically, any movie that supports skepticism and anti-authoritarian views is welcome these days.

And I agree, the acting is better than the Harry Potter movies.

[lumberjackie-o.livejournal.com]

did you notice that kidman had finger marks on HER face as she looks at the window after slapping her monkey? it was subtle and very cool.

we liked the movie a lot!

[egbubba.livejournal.com]

OK. I didn't get the slapping the monkey "joke." I assume it wasn't anything as broad as a "spanking the monkey" reference.