Cheap Cds - The Golden Compass [2007]

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Customer Rating:

Summary: Brave stab at a very difficult book to film
Comment: This was an attempt to film 'Northern Lights', the first part of Philip Pullman's masterful 'His
Dark Materials' trilogy. I say attempt because it's not always successful. The main problem is the
pacing and the visible effort involved in trying to distill so much book into so short a film (about
1 hour 38 minutes if we discount the credits). It all feels a bit rushed and there isn't enough
space for the plot to breathe.

The infinite subtlety of the book and Pullman's clever
exposition is also totally absent as a result of it being `dumbed down' for a mass audience. It's
almost as if the director/writer doesn't believe the majority of people are bright enough to
understand it without everything being explicitly spelled out for us!

If we look at
other successful fantasy franchises of recent years such as the `Lord of the Rings' trilogy and the
Harry Potter films, most of them are a lot longer than the length of `The Golden Compass, and events
are allowed to unfold at a less hectic pace.

On the positive side, it's often visually
stunning with some carefully created CGI sequences: the daemons are great as is the fantastic
depiction of the armoured bear, Iorek Byrnison. His fight with the King of the Bears who forced his
exile is a major highlight. The locations and CGI-enhanced backgrounds are also mostly superb. />
It features some good performances, with the young Dakota Blue Richards excellent as Lyra,
Sir Ian McKellen suitably sonorous and bellowing as the voice of Iorek, and the magnificent Texan
drawl and handlebar moustache of Sam Elliott as the aviator, Lee Scoresby. And I've never seen
Nicole Kidman look more perfectly, glacially beautiful as she does here. It also contains some
stirring music and a very welcome Kate Bush song (`Lyra') at the end.

Overall I have
to say that the film lacks charm. And I must also point out that it will certainly be a big help if
you've read and loved the book beforehand, otherwise there's a real chance you'll find this
incomprehensible, or worse think something along the lines of: "Why the heck is this regarded as a
modern classic?" Because, make no mistake about it, the original novel and the follow-ups 'The
Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass' form a trilogy that is a masterpiece of modern
literature.

In summary, this is a decent movie, but I hope the two sequels are better
(and longer!) than this.

Customer Rating:

Summary: only so-so
Comment: what is bad about this film:

the script is APPALLING - we are spoonfed, almost
literally, every action or plot-turn. subtlety is out-the-window. also, the script has been totally
stripped of everything that makes it relevant or even interesting. for example, the religious
allusions are non-existent. what is leftover is bland, neutral, insipid, meaningless and ultimately
boring. the action scenes were action-filled but over too quickly and ultimately who cares! />
what is okay about this film:

the acting is about as good as it CAN be with a
script this inept. the weakest link is lyra, the main character, who struggles with the cockney
accent which was obviously forced upon her to make her ... ordinary. she's also quite wooden, which
is not the same as underacting, which is almost always recommended. the music score, while being
play-by-numbers, is effective enough, although i can't recall a single motif worth remembering once
the film has finished.

what is good about this film:

actually very little.
the animations, CGI and cinematography are gorgeous and second-to-none. the realisations of
alternative-oxford and -london are exquisite. the daemons are effectively realised and animated. the
editing is tight. the cast is effective and actually quite inspired, bearing in mind that readers
will have their own preconceptions. eva green as the witch queen was perfect! dakota blue
whatever-her-name-is as lyra was okay, that even that okayness is good, seeing that we are not
supposed, initially (in the book) to find her particularly appealing as an individual. anyway, at
least she isn't disney-cute-perfect, thank god! nicole kidmas was, as she always is, mesmerising in
the role. iorek (voiced by the ubiquitous ian mckellan) was - well, what can you say? - it was just
ian mckellan being ubiquitous.

all-in-all, looks good but have done better. for the
second installment of the trilogy my advice is: stick closer to the theme of the book.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Terrible terrible terrible movie
Comment: I hadn't heard of the Golden Compass before but I expected something like the Chronicles of Narnia
or a cross between Lord of the rings and Harry Potter. It was nothing like that.

To be
blunt, the acting was aweful, even from more famous actors like Nicole Kidman. The young girl who
was playing the lead was very annoying and a poor actres. The story line was pitiful, it was
obvious that many of the special effects shots had been re-used which often meant the continuity was
appalling.

This film was aweful in every way, it was not believable due to the acting
and poor story. I hope they do not release a sequel, despite them building up for one.

Customer Rating:

Summary: rubbish
Comment: This movie is an unimaginative, disjointed, incomprehensible waste of time. Very poorly edited,
it's a real botched version of Pullman's story which is itself far, far less 'special' than most
Amazon reviewers would have you believe. If my child was entertained by this dross, I'd be
concerned! I'm just glad I didn't pay to see it.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Fantastic
Comment: Well I thought this film had a fantastic story line and full of energy. Can not wait for the follow
up!

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