First, it is superbly cast: Dakota Blue Richards is an absolutely winning creature and the rest of the supporting cast were perfectly suited for their roles, especially Sam Elliot as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Elliot--like Alan Rickman as Snape in Harry Potter--I had pegged for the role as soon as I read the books. I love it when I'm right). Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter is deliciously evil: you will love to hate her. (She hasn't had the opportunity to display such whiplash changes between sweetness and cruelty since To Die For). I am curious and mildly concerned about Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel. The film version is painting his character a little too admirably. In the books, he is just as despicable in his own way as Mrs. Coulter. It will be interesting to see how they handle things in the next film which, if they follow the books, will have to begin with his committing a very shocking murder.
The special effects are brilliant. The technology and gadgets of this alternative world are a delight to behold, and the costumes and decor are a sumptuous feast for the eyes. The fantasy creatures--both the whimsical and enigmatic daemons and the fearsome Ice Bears--are engaging.
The plot follows that of the book with a fair amount of accuracy, cutting a few corners where a film must, but reasonably so.
What disappointed me was the dialogue, so clunky it fell on my ears with a leaden thud. How many times do we have to hear that Lyra is "special", that there are mysterious "prophesies" about her? We can see that she is special easily enough, and as for the prophesies, mention them once and be done. Similarly, the "specialness" of the golden compass was harped on so continually it became tinny and redundant. "This is the golden compass: it tells the truth"; "This is the golden compass: you use it to see things." Enough! We can see what it does plainly enough when she uses it. There were too many trite, banal, and cliche lines to count. This script was desperately in need of a script doctor (or a script nurse at the very least, as Carrie Fisher would say).
I hope that the next two films will be better. Enough critics have commented on the problem that I hope they will take steps to make improvements. I will watch the films nonetheless; there is so much more to look forward to.
p.s. I am also tired of hearing the rabid Christians on the Internet harp on and on about the controversial "killing God" scene (which isn't going to happen until the third movie anyway). Saying Lyra goes a quest to "Kill God" is like saying Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz goes on a quest to kill the Wicked Witch. It's completely circumstantial. The thing that bothers me the most is how they are circulating emails (I just received one today) encouraging people to ban the movie (and the books) and protect their kids from "killing God in their hearts." First off, the movie is just a piece of Hollywood fluff and isn't enough to convince anybody to kill anything. Secondly, kids today either don't care or are intelligent enough to draw their own conclusions. Thirdly... ah, just read the damn books before jumping to inane conclusions and quit yer whinging.
1 comment:
We forgot to mention one little surprise at the very end of the movie: Kate Bush's lovely voice singing a song I can guess is called "Lyra."
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