Gathering of the Figments

Emerald · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:02 am Post subject:

So... to bring this topic back from the deep trenches of spam-hell...

First of all, "Golden Compass"?! What is that? It's bad enough that they changed the name of the book/movie, but when they do refer to the Alethiometer in some dialogue in the movie, they spoil it immediately by saying "also known as a golden compass". *sigh* It's not even any kind of a compass. It's a whole different thing. In fact, it's closer to tarot cards than a compass. Okay, well the pointless anger's worn out now, so on with my review.

I thought overall it was a wonderful translation of the book to screen. Although there were a couple of changes (read: Golden. Compass.) and the ending should probably have been left on, the visuals more than made up for the changes. The atmosphere was extremely strong and once again goes to show how well fantasy CAN translate into film via the use of our current digital technology (although in the case of movies like Eragorn... the less said about that the better).

I was rivoted by The Dark Materials when I first read them years ago, and am happy to say I was very impressed by the way this turned out. It was better than I anticipated and, like the first Harry Potter movie, evoked (I felt) just the right atmosphere and feel.
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Amnesic Voyage - 1,581/50,000

Hawkins · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:59 am Post subject:

I loved the dirigible. Very Happy

I only saw it on a preview, but the fact that there was a dirigible in the book/movie just made my day. And I'm always in a bad mood in February.
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Tyler's on vacation...to CANADA...*sad*

Emerald · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject:

Yeah, the dirigible was very cool. And there was something else I had meant to add: the casting was very good. Lee, Iorek, Lyra, Mrs Coulter, Pan - they were all good choices of actors. And Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel (following his recent title of the new Bond) was, I think, a very clever choice.

I was also impressed with the way the did the daemons. The trailers had made me think they were being left out too much (as you rarely saw any in the trailers) but they were represented well. I didn't like the constant mention of dust (since it's supposed to be uncovered as the film goes on), particularly (SPOILER) the burst of it that happens whenever any human dies. That was sort of annyoing. But all in all, the daemons were good, particularly Pantalaimon and the golden monkey (whose name I forget, if it was ever mentioned).
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Amnesic Voyage - 1,581/50,000

pommie42 · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject:

The Golden Monkey was never named in either book or movie...
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Hawkins · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:29 am Post subject:

Was Iorek a real polar bear, or just CGI?
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Tyler's on vacation...to CANADA...*sad*