The Golden Compass
Dec. 17th, 2007 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
octothorpeSo 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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 08:38 pm (UTC)I've always thought daemon was the more common UK spelling and demon the more common US spelling. They both mean the same things.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-18 12:05 am (UTC)