Golden Compass
Dec. 5th, 2007 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueOK. Well, I went to see the Golden Compass tonight.
I re-read the book (which is the Northern Lights, not the Golden compass at all).
And ... well, the film itself, I'm afraid was disappointing. I won't go as far as saying it was awful, but I think my time might have been better spent.
The film itself, felt like they rushed all the way through it. As if they filmed the whole thing, had it come out to 4 hours long, and got told that the final cut had to be sub 2 hours.
The characters didn't really get ... well brought out at all actually. Most of 'em I only knew who they were because of the fact I'd recently re-read the story. A friend who was with us, who hadn't read it, was ... vaguely entertained, and didn't feel like he was missing the story, so I guess they didn't do _too_ bad a job of telling us what was going on.
Oh, and they kept on pointing out that the Alethiometer _was_ the golden compass, in case you were too stupid to figure that bit out.
Generally, disappointing. Pretty, and some fun special effects. Thought the Alethiometer was a cool, and so were the zepplins, and the carriage. But generally, forced pace and placeholder characters meant this film is not one that will last on.
Oh, and the books themselves have ... shall we say certain religious overtones. Very heavily toned down in the film, although still just about present. Which again, I felt detracted somewhat from the underlying narrative. I mean, it is kind of the whole point of the story arc.
Good special effects budget, but let down by being a bit too much of a halfway house between forcing there to be certain 'bits' of the story, but at the same time not giving enough time to any single one of them.
But I'll forgive them if they make a special edition DVD that's 4-5 hours long with all the bits that didn't make it to the final cut.
I re-read the book (which is the Northern Lights, not the Golden compass at all).
And ... well, the film itself, I'm afraid was disappointing. I won't go as far as saying it was awful, but I think my time might have been better spent.
The film itself, felt like they rushed all the way through it. As if they filmed the whole thing, had it come out to 4 hours long, and got told that the final cut had to be sub 2 hours.
The characters didn't really get ... well brought out at all actually. Most of 'em I only knew who they were because of the fact I'd recently re-read the story. A friend who was with us, who hadn't read it, was ... vaguely entertained, and didn't feel like he was missing the story, so I guess they didn't do _too_ bad a job of telling us what was going on.
Oh, and they kept on pointing out that the Alethiometer _was_ the golden compass, in case you were too stupid to figure that bit out.
Generally, disappointing. Pretty, and some fun special effects. Thought the Alethiometer was a cool, and so were the zepplins, and the carriage. But generally, forced pace and placeholder characters meant this film is not one that will last on.
Oh, and the books themselves have ... shall we say certain religious overtones. Very heavily toned down in the film, although still just about present. Which again, I felt detracted somewhat from the underlying narrative. I mean, it is kind of the whole point of the story arc.
Good special effects budget, but let down by being a bit too much of a halfway house between forcing there to be certain 'bits' of the story, but at the same time not giving enough time to any single one of them.
But I'll forgive them if they make a special edition DVD that's 4-5 hours long with all the bits that didn't make it to the final cut.
