Golden Compass Trailers

Luke
By Luke at 07/27/2007 - 18:02

Epic fantasy goodness, Quicktime required.

On a good recommendation, I've picked up the series of books and I'm almost through the second novel. They're really pretty decent, as far as young adult fantasy goes. A little heavy-handed on the destiny and infallibility of the main character, but that's to be expected.

The trailer is pretty impressive, however. Not exactly ground-breaking visuals but it seems reasonably well-done. The casting looks decent (although I've got reservations about Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel and Dakota Whatsername annoys me enormously) and it's just hard to go wrong with sentient armored bears and airships. One can hope it won't be too bad.

So I went to go see it on Saturday...

There was a sneak preview on Saturday and I was fortunate enough to get a ticket. Thanks, Laura!

I had low expectations going in, but it wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared. It was eye candy, pure and simple, which is a bit disappointing. I had feared far worse, however.

I was surprised at how relatively true to the book they remained. While their choice of where to end the film (about 85% of the way through first book) and their attempt at slightly obscuring the strong anti-catholic message of the novels were questionable, they stayed fairly true to the books in terms of plot. I can respect the attempt, at least. There were several minor deviations, but even a die-hard fan of the books could (hopefully) accept as them as entirely reasonable.

This, unfortunately, lead to some pacing issues. The whole movie was far too rushed. Moments which should have been stunning revelations lost a lot of impact because of the lack of anticipation. Moments of horrifying discoveries (since they're contrary to the basic laws of human existence within the context of the fantasy world) were given remarkably little attention and the setting itself wound up suffering as a result. While I won't give spoilers, anyone who has read the series will recognize them easily. I can't imagine that someone unfamiliar with the books would even realize what a huge taboo touching another person's daemon was supposed to be, for example.

Essentially, the story's primary message was lost. The Authority and the Magisterium were half-heartedly portrayed as a purely bureaucratic evil organization bent upon taking over the world. The feeling of unfamiliarity and uniqueness of Lyra's Oxford was glossed over and the dizzying pace made the accomplishments and progress of the characters almost inconsequential. Even worse than the effects upon the plot, I think that belittling the setting is the real crime.

Instead, it's an excuse for CG polar bears in meteoric armor to make dramatic roars and fly around in airships with shapeshifting animals and precocious children. Not that I have anything against armored bears or airships, mind you, but it's a bit of a shame that they missed out on really establishing the unique setting and the overall tone of the original in the process.