The Golden Compass (movie)

[FoxyKaye]

Here's my point of view from somebody who has not read the books...

I'm glad to hear from someone who has seen the movie before reading the books, and that the movie seemed to "fly" for you. It's always hard to tell, having read the books several times, how much of the narrative I'm adding from my own experience and how much comes across coherently in the movie (although the previous poster to you didn't like it, so I guess this is also pretty subjective). In some ways, I think Golden Compass suffered from the same kind of myopia that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did this past summer - very self referential, and a somewhat built-in expectation that the viewer has read the book.

All that being said, I sincerely hope you and your family enjoy the books - they are among the most wonderful fantasy I've ever read, and there's actually a nice hardcover collector's set out right now. There will be plenty to discuss, especially after the conclusion of the third book, The Amber Spyglass.

 

[cycocelica]

I go to a Catholic school and they discourage us from watching it and the principal at my old elementary school sent letters home telling parents not to watch it. I still plan on watching it since I read parts of the books and thought it was pretty good.

What these "teachers" are doing is exactly what is wrong religion, but this isn't the thread for that.

 

[PowerFullMac]

I saw the movie a few days ago and its very good! I have the book at home but have never read it, think I will now though!

 

[Iscariot]

Does Daniel Craig at any point face down an army of Uruk'hai, and without pause for alarm, pull out his sword and cut a swath through their ranks?

 

[SpookTheHamster]

I saw it the other day and thought that it was missing any importance to the storyline. Nothing that happened in the film had any impact or feeling. In the book, the scene where Lyra finds Billy by the lake is chilling and powerful, the film has no emotion.

Everything is too simple: "We need to go to this place.... We're here now"

 

[BoyBach]

I was hoping that it would be on the in-flight entertainment of my flight from Singapore to Bali next week, but according to the Singapore Airlines website it's not - 'Ratatouille' it is then!

So now I have to try and find the time to go to the cinema in Kuala Lumpur.

 

[killmoms]

I saw it the other day and thought that it was missing any importance to the storyline. Nothing that happened in the film had any impact or feeling. In the book, the scene where Lyra finds Billy by the lake is chilling and powerful, the film has no emotion.

Everything is too simple: "We need to go to this place.... We're here now"

Yes! YES! A million times yes! Horrendous and utterly disappointing—a failure as a film adaptation on every level.

The ONLY good thing to come out of this is that it will flop so terribly at theaters that someone at New Line will lose their shirt over it and they'll never get to ruin 2 and 3 in the same manner.

 

[Fiveos22]

I can't wait to see it, but my favorite reviewers were kinda luke warm about it.


From the AV Club Review:

"Still, The Golden Compass does manage the job of bringing Pullman's world to the screen. With luck, any future entries will try harder to get the job done right."

 

[MyDesktopBroke]

Maybe it's because Mac users are level-headed by default, but this is by far the most respectable, fair and inoffensive discussion about this movie I've seen. Most of the time it turns into a religion bashing/condemning non-believers to the pits hell sort of things*– the worst from both points of view.

I heard Iorek's (spelling?) fight was spectacular.

 

[Stampyhead]

I'm going to be listening to the audio book this week and then plan on taking my niece and nephews to see the movie over the Christmas holidays. All the church protests over the film are kind of silly in my opinion, and catholic schools telling their pupil's families to not go see the movie is just wrong. If the church feels that it isn't good for their members to see then maybe issue a warning to that effect and let people decide for themselves (not that they can't anyway, but it seems rather insulting). Of course, I'm not catholic (I belong to the "not-quite-traditional-Christian" Mormon church, as notjustjay put it ), so it doesn't really affect me if they make the Catholic church look bad. I'm all for the idea of people making their own decisions about things and and about seeing knowledge as a good thing, not a bad thing.

 

[notjustjay]

I'm all for the idea of people making their own decisions about things and and about seeing knowledge as a good thing, not a bad thing.

Thank you. Me too. If a "Christian" or "Catholic" person views these films or reads the books and as a result decides not to believe in God anymore, then I would argue that their faith wasn't so strong to begin with. Just like, I suppose is appropriate on the Mac forum, if I can get you to switch to a Mac based on one sit-down, then you probably weren't very committed to the PC in the first place (as opposed to the die-hard Windows users, no matter what you say they'll never switch).

I would much rather see a minister preach a series of sermons expounding on the criticisms made by the books/movies, or apologetics to counter them, rather than a blanket "Thou Shalt Not See These Movies!" Much more interesting, lets you learn and explore, and makes you much better prepared to deal with the issues. If a Christian feels that it is wrong I would much rather have a discussion with them about why they feel that way, rather than have them just say "I refuse to read the books, I refuse to see the movies, I just know it's wrong (because my church said so)." Right, and that gets them a lot of street cred too I'm sure.

I haven't had a chance to see the movie yet (sigh)... maybe this weekend?

 

[yeroen]

I'm waiting for Stephen Colbert to chime in on this movie.

Bloodthirsty Armored Polar Bears who are the enemy of the one true church!

 

[Stampyhead]

Thank you. Me too. If a "Christian" or "Catholic" person views these films or reads the books and as a result decides not to believe in God anymore, then I would argue that their faith wasn't so strong to begin with. Just like, I suppose is appropriate on the Mac forum, if I can get you to switch to a Mac based on one sit-down, then you probably weren't very committed to the PC in the first place (as opposed to the die-hard Windows users, no matter what you say they'll never switch).

I would much rather see a minister preach a series of sermons expounding on the criticisms made by the books/movies, or apologetics to counter them, rather than a blanket "Thou Shalt Not See These Movies!" Much more interesting, lets you learn and explore, and makes you much better prepared to deal with the issues. If a Christian feels that it is wrong I would much rather have a discussion with them about why they feel that way, rather than have them just say "I refuse to read the books, I refuse to see the movies, I just know it's wrong (because my church said so)." Right, and that gets them a lot of street cred too I'm sure.

I haven't had a chance to see the movie yet (sigh)... maybe this weekend?

Yes, exactly. Open dialogue is good. We all learn something that way. If more churches worked the way you described perhaps we could eventually eliminate the stereotype of Christians being mindless automatons who just do what they're told.
I've only just started the book but it seems alright so far. I'm listening to the audiobook version during my commute to/from work every day. Hoping to be done with it before Christmas so I can take my sister's kids to go see the movie that week.

 

[FoxyKaye]

I heard Iorek's (spelling?) fight was spectacular.

My gods yes - it was one of a few moments in the movie that were real highlights for me. What astounded me is that the fight, not necessarily the circumstances leading up to it in the book, was almost identical to the book, including its conclusion (which I'm not sure how they got away with in a PG-13 movie).

Other well done parts of the movie for me were Lyra's first meeting with Iorek (which was almost exactly as I imagined it), and the sequence that begins with he finding Billy Costa in the shack. Even though this wasn't completely faithful to the book, it conveyed the same terror and violation of intercission from the book (although the room that Lyra discovers that is full of cut away daemons would have been a welcome addition to the movie).

Edit: Oh sh*t - I just realized I posted a potential spoiler for folks who have neither seen the movie nor read the full book. Sorry. Anyone who's a mod might want to amend the thread title if they care to to alert folks that there might be spoilers embedded in here.

Edit 2: This has actually been one of the more civil discussions I've seen online re: the book/movie. I agree with the above poster re: if more Christian churches promoted dialog rather than issuing edicts it would do a fair bit of good to change people's general assumptions (including my own) about Christians.