Ok, well, I just went and saw and just came back! Spoilers are coming up, feel free to ignore this part. I'll hide it.

OK, well overall, I thought it was a fairly good movie. They did, in fact, remove the Christian themes, which was a bummer to me. They alluded it though, which was a bit nice but not nearly as much as I wanted. They moved scenes around a bit. The Svalbard fight scene was put before the Bolvangar scene to make it flow better, I guess. Though, they did that, I will never understand. The characters were done rather nicely. Nicole Kidman, in particular, was really good at playing the poisoned honey role. Daniel Craig and Eva Green didn't get a lot of camera time as I had hoped but it was good enough and they both did well. Lyra was, I think, one of the best roles. Her confident and stubborn attitude was played a bit too well, I thought, but nevertheless, I don't think they could have had a better Lyra. Iorek and Lee were fantastic. Although when I first heard Iorek talk, I was a little shocked. The special effects were good. They did an OK job making the daemons disappear when the soldiers died. They kind of disintegrated into gold dust. But the cinematography need a lot of improving. They kind of merged different scenes with mountain ranges. I was kind of hoping for something like Lord of the Rings, when they were showing the Misty Mountains. The soundtrack was excellent, I thought. Each character and culture had their own theme in the soundtrack, which is always good. And as far as I know, they're not planning to make a sequel but we can expect that. Other than the fact the movie wasn't long enough, it was a good movie, overall.

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I was cured all right.

Well I actually saw the Golden Compass on Monday, but this is the first chance I've had to write about it.

Well I really loved the way they did the opening, it explained things pretty well, and I loved how they did the curtain thing, which opened onto another world. I never really pictured the doorway into other world's like that, but I really should have done as it was great.

The next bit with the kids was probably a good way to start the film off, we saw the Gyptain children and a couple of characters we needed to know. I thought the change to story concerning why Lyra needed to be in the Master's room, was a bit pointless. It made much more sense in the book that she was curious and wanted to explore the room, rather than fetch a "poisoned" robe.

I'm also not sure why the Master was not the one to try and poison Asriel. It would have been nice of it had been him, so when he gave Lyra the compass, there would have been a bit of tension between them and resentment on Lyra's part. I was also disappointed that the first scene between Lyra and Asriel was so short and that you never got the feeling he was really angry with her, which I always liked in the book. I did like the interaction between their daemon's though, that was nice.

One of the weirdest scenes in the entire film though, was the conversation between Lyra and Mrs. Coulter when they first met. Mrs. Coulter telling Lyra about what the King of the Bears most wanted in the world, which would later be the key bit of information Lyra would need in order for Iorek to defeat the king?! That was a really odd way of we the audience and Lyra to learn that. Even my brother (who has never read the books) thought what was a really strange thing for her to mention, it was so out of the blue.

Another bit that made no sense was the fact that Lyra was kidnapped and taken to the bear palace instead of being taken to Bolvangar. I mean why would they have taken her to the bears? This was not really explained. And then it seemed odd that Iorek took her to Bolvangar and then left her to go and get help. Why not go and get help and then take her there? Again, my brother thought that was a silly part of the story and I have to agree.

I also didn't see why they made Billy Costa the one who lost his daemon. It would have been no less of a shock or emotional if it had been a kid unknown the audience, in fact more so, as there would have been no-one at the other end to comfort him. Speaking of which, Lyra never once mentioned to anyone back at the camp what had happened to Billy's dameon, and yet Ma Costsa exclaimed "we'll find your daemon". I was also looking forward to the cries of horror when the Gyptians discovered when went on at Bolvangar but that never happened either.

It was also annoying how the scenes didn't really flow. They swapped from scene to scene much to quickly.

But anyway, on the whole this was good film. I was imagining Freddie Highmore to still be the young kid he was in Finding Neveland, but his voice has matured quite a bit, so my concern that Pan would sound too much like a child, was not valid. Some of the daemons, more than others, looked realistic, and I liked trying to spot all the different creatures. I also liked the effects of when daemons died, that was a good way to show it.

All the acting was really good, I was pleasantly surprised by the kids which is something I was concerned about. So many great British actors barely used though! But it was to be expected with such a short film.

It is a shame they changed the ending, or should I say shortened it, I would have liked to have seen the sky being blown apart. But I have that to look forward to in the next film.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Spoilers on The Golden Compass
It seems we have a difference in a opinion...

Personally, I thought the opening scenes were great and it established a camaraderie and friendship among the kids of Oxford, between Billy Costa, Roger, and Lyra and the other gyptian kids. In the books, I did not feel that bond among the kids. This established bond becomes so much more emotionally driven as the story goes along with the Gobblers. From the very beginning I ADORED the kid characters, something that I could not do while reading the book.

The game they played and showing us that Lyra went in there to steal a "poisoned robe" made more sense to me. But I'm always one for logical actions, having Lyra just offhandedly just happened to be nosy that day that she just happens to have seen the Master trying to poison Lord Asriel and the presentation about Dust.

That's the other thing. I am so glad the Magisterium official was the one to try and poison Lord Asriel and not the Master, because that was one of the things that utterly bothered me the most in the book. {and did you say that they explain why he tried to do that, JF? I don't remember if you told me} but it just absolutely doesn't make sense to have the Master try to poison Lord Asriel and then later have a conversation about how he's been trying to protect Lyra from Mrs. Coulter. If Pullman was trying to write him as "playing sides" he didn't do a very good job at it.

Quite frankly, the opening of the GC book was very frustrating for me to read.

The fact that Billy Costa was the one that was found in the town was a good move on the writers' part. IMO, Pullman should've never had that side-third-person-omniscient storyline with Tony Makarios. I mean, yes, Lyra didn't say what had happened to him, but wasn't he ranting on about "Where's my Ratter?" It could be assumed.

I was also disappointed that they switched the Bolvangar scene with the bear fight, it seemed odd but I guess it would fit for the general audience and not the book-nerd critique-rs.



You have to take the events piece by piece. Iorek took Lyra to go try and save the children, confident that he alone can protect her especially after the fact that he just defeated Iofur (not canon, I know). He was expecting Lyra to cross the ice-bridge and he would follow and he didn't anticipate the only way across collapsing on him. He ordered Lyra to stay put, but of course she doesn't listen {stubborn girl!} so he has no choice but to go back and get help from Scoresby and the gyptians (where ever they are at this point).

And I found that the scenes flowed quite nicely, perhaps maybe a bit rushed but I thought it was fine.

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THE HALLOWFEST 2010
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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

is it worth seeing??just asking...............

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^I personally think it's worth it. If only for the cinematography and the actors.

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THE HALLOWFEST 2010
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ok i was just joshing i am going to go no matter what!!!!!!!!!!LOL

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Hmm... I'm a bit curious. I've read the books (they were ok, not my favorite) so I kind of want to see the movie. Actually... my mom was thinking of going today because our small, local theater is showing it right now... but we're having some friends over instead. So...I'll probably just rent it.

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^Thanks to Altariel Frodo!

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I've just got back from watching it, so I'll hide what I've writted like everyone else.

I really liked it. I was a bit uncertain, as some people had said it wasn't very good. I was really impressed though.

I loved the scene at the beginning with all the children and I loved Roger! Mrs Coulter was absolutely perfect, and though she had blonde hair and not black like in the book, it didn't bother me at all and I thought she was one of the best characters. And Iorek Byrnison! I was curious to see how they pronounced the name and it was awesome. I loved Iorek and all the other bears. It was weird how they swapped Bolvangar and Svalbard, though, but it was alright I suppose. The fighting scene was done really well too.

I thought Bolvangar was really good, though I felt they made it really short and I would've liked to have seen it longer. The battle with the Tatars was also done really well and I love the way peoples daemons disappeared. I loved the witches too! And Lee Scoresby. And loads of other things like the fact that the photograms were spheres.

The only thing that was really annoying was that they cut it off so early. I wasn't expecting it to be finished at all, so when the screen faded to black I was disappointed, but now I'm really excited about the next film.

I saw it and was very disapointed!

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I don't think this post will get spoiler-y so I shant put it in blue. Bypass it if you like, because really I've got a fairly short, harsh review planned.

Basically, the book, for me, was a dud. I love fantasy. It's one of the few genres of books that I read, yet this book did not appeal to me. I got two chapters in and was just never hooked. Lyra was fairly interesting, but otherwise it bored me.

I went into the movie expecting nothing spectacular, but a well-acted and entertaining movie. I'm sad to report that I got basically the same thing that the book gave me. Boredom. Seriously, the plot seemed weak and disorganised, whilst the script was "kiddie" in some places. It was dramatic in an almost mediocre way. Where was the epic climax? Was it supposed to be the battle at the end? Anyway, in short, it didn't amount to much in my book and I shant waste my time watching any sequels they decide to shoot out after this failure.

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Well, I did warn you, didn't I?

Mmm.. Daniel Craig. Fantastic actor - too bad he didn't really have many scenes. *shrug*

*hands JF a tissue* There, there. At least you can skip those sections. I mean, that's not always the easiest to do, but really it's the only thing you can do.