just seen the golden compass and...

I would have to agree with you there. Never been a fan of Kate Bush either.


The film version of The Da Vinci Code was hideous. Even Tom Hanks who I am usually a big fan of was terrible in it, and what was the deal with that awful haircut? Ouch.
 
I was quite disappointed. Some bits were good (the general look, Nicole Kidman and Dakota Blue RicharRAB was better than I thought she'd be - although i did think she'd be rubbish.) but it just seemed to be lacking something.

I also felt like Pan was more like an annoying talking pet than, essentially, her best and most loyal friend (I know they said that her daemon's her soul but it just didn't seem that way.) and Roger seemed more like her annoying 4 year old brother than her best friend.

I hated the ending too.
 
I heard on the radio that they gave it adifferent ending so for the next film they would have a sort of introduction to the more muddly books and be able to link it all together better???:confused:
 
Maybe your expectations were wrong? I liked the book for the idea of the daemons, and for how the core crime was something which doesn't even make sense for us because we don't keep our souls outside our bodies. If you were expecting some anti-Christian scandal like Da Vinci, then I don't think that's the point.
 
I agree about Pan and Roger, Pan was like an annoying word of wisdom and Roger didn't seem like a best friend or seem old enough to be lyras friend.
 
I am not sure they will make a second film?

Bombed a bit in the USA and likely to kicked off the top spot after 3 weeks courtesy of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Last Harry Potter film only managed to stay at number one for just one week.
 
Hard to say. It's opened much more strongly outside the US. The US box office isn't the be all and end all of a film anymore.And yet that grossed a whopping $938 million worldwide.
 
Having not read the books, this may be explained in one of them but something I found odd in the film:

Is it intentional or just coincidence that the girls seem to have male-voiced daemons and boys have female-voiced ones?
 
Yes.. it is intentional.

Females have a male daemon, while Males have a female daemons like in the books.

Do read the books. it is a good read.
 
We had high hopes for this film and waited patiently since seeing the trailer at "Stardust". 4 Adults, 3 Teens, all agreed film was poor. All the adults drifted off to sleep at least once in the film. Story poor, acting poor, plot (what plot!) poor, continuity poor, so bored. We all agreed that it wouldn't be a DVD we would rush to buy (if at all), whereas "Stardust" is a must see again.
 
I went and saw the Golden Compass with Mr Puffin in its first week, with neither of us having read the books or heard too much about it.

Coming from the point of view of a newcomer the film was a real treat of fabulous acting (and playing the "spot the famous british actor" game), sumptuous scenery and gorgeous animals, and we both loved every minute of it.

However...

I received the books for xmas and have now nearly finished "Northern Lights".

All I can say is "WTF?"

You can normally forgive the occasional change in chronology, which character said what or altering the locations, but when a director changes all of things, to such a vast extent, you have to question his sanity.

I just can't see what he was thinking to change the focus of the first book so much :'(
 
Disappointing, but entirely down to studio interference at the last minute. A great deal was cut from it, and not only the ending. I feel very sorry for Chris Weitz, the director, the blame should not be laid at his door.

This from the studio who made LOTR. You would have thought they would have the courage to give it the time the story neeRAB, not chop it down to well under 2 hours. Hope we get a director's cut on DVD. May be too late to save the sequels though. B@starRAB.
 
As a HUGE fan of the books, and as someone who had been waiting for the film for about 4 years ever since I read the book, I was disappointed.

To be fair there were a few redeeming features to the film - Dakota Blue RicharRAB surpassed my expectations as a newcomer (expected a Harry-Potter-esque actress but much better than that), although she was a bit unconvincing/wooden at parts. Thought the graphics were stunning and liked the Magisterium dude (although his name was wrong (Fra Pavel? I mean, why??) and his role doesn't exist in the book). Nicole Kidman was perfect as Mrs Coulter, as was the guy who played Lee Scoresby and Hester. All the daemons were great.

Other than that.... a huge meh for me. The film was so disjointed and it was just one event after another. Some were so rushed (e.g. the battle of the bears - it was like "Yay Iorek, you're the new King! Now let's go to Bolvangar!" :rolleyes: ). As for the ending, I nearly yelled at the screen when I saw it about to end. I'm sorry, but what IS the point of cutting out the ending?? The Amber Spyglass won't make sense without it, and they can't exactly plonk it into the next film either because half of it is about the disturbance Lord Asriel caused.

Didn't think much of Daniel Craig, I'm afraid. Never been a fan of him but he really did not have the authority, majesticness or the cruel power that Lord Asriel should have. When he was asking for money in the Retiring Room he didn't appear dominating but like a normal old man. And the unnecessarily Bond-esque sequence in the snow mountains added nothing at all. Serafina kept popping up at odd places to move the plot along several paces but added nothing. Ian McKellen's voice was distracting as Iorek as it is so familiar to us, plus he was too gentle/too un-rough for Iorek imo. The guy who played Iofur (NOT Ragnar... grrr) suited a bear's voice much better.

I didn't appreciate all the bad stuff being plonked with The Magisterium. I suppose it made things easier to understand but..... and I bet the Fra Pavel dude will take on Father Gomez' role in the 3rd film judging from the Beetle daemon.....!

The main problem of the film was time, ultimately. None of the characters had a chance to develop properly and it just feels like a giant trailer, with the highlights of the book being shown, but not actually telling a story.



The anti-religious stuff comes in mainly in The Amber Spyglass though. In Northern Lights it's hinted at but not made overly explicit. The first book does follow the basic skeleton of a typical adventure story (albeit much, much better than that imo), but the second and third books are not. If you can bear it I'd urge you to read on and see what you think of the entire trilogy, and whether you think it is boring and bland then. And when you watch the film and think it is better than the book.......... well!
 
Was he using a plane or lathe?

He is such a versatile actor, having almost two facial expressions!

Did you see the bit in layer cake where he was staring himself out in a mirror: LOL, f**kin terrible!
 
I do not understand the argument about losing the last 3 chapters of the book in the first film since they have said it will form the first part of the next film. Surely it makes more sense because the events will be fresh in your mind rather than frantically trying to remember what happened in a film you saw one and a half years ago.

Also you will never see the book (or practically any book) as a movie, there is always too much in the book to put on a film and things which are impossible to represent in a visual medium. The best you can hope for is a good film based on the book.

I think given the limitations they had to work with, they did a good job. I must confess I think it could have been a little longer, particularly as the beginning did seem to whip by but I suspect that is because it would have hard to keep it interesting for the average movie goer who has not read the book and so wanted to show the action as soon as possible.

I must confess I've only read Northern Lights once some time ago, but the film captured the story I remember. I'm sure there were lots of scenes skipped, rewritten and inserted, but the plot was pretty much what I remembered and seemed faithful to the spirit of the books.

I really hope they complete the trilogy.
 
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