There seem to be a ton of fantasy movies recently out and still coming. Thanks to a ridiculous amount of emails and pseudo-news stories about the movie being written by an atheist (which is apparently worst than being a Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or hypocrite) I had no trouble getting a seat in the near empty theater in the church going community I live in. It's a shame this movie won't get seen more, shunned by the same knee-jerk Christians that were told to vote for Bush because God wanted them too.
The production values here are better than anything since Lord of the Rings and they make the last big one, the Chronicles of Narnia, pt. 1 look like it was made for TV in comparison. An interesting comparison since the author intended them as a sort of rebuttal to the converted C.S. Lewis' undisguised Christian themed Narnia series. But if your looking for any religious debate or even discussion you won't find it here.
What you will find is a fascinating fantasy adventure The story takes place in a parallel earth, one of many. On this earth, every human's soul resides in an animal form (called a daemon) that is their constant companion and speaks to them. Neither can exist without the other, so if one dies both die. There is a primal substance called Dust that among its properties would alive travel between between worlds. It is also believe to be related to Original Sin, it's very mention is taboo to the point of almost no one knows of it. Mention of its existence is like Galileo saying the earth isn't the center of the universe and one is asking for a world of trouble from the Magisterium. The Magisterium protects the Truth from heretics and other free thinkers.
Unfortunately for Lyra, a 12 year old girl, she does hear of it and is given a device that uses it, an alethiometer, or golden compass. It's the last one in existence. All others were collected and destroyed by the Magisterium. It's function is to reveal the truth if one can understand how to use it. Truth is a dangerous thing, so the Magisterium goes to any length to protect people from it. This puts Lyra on the run and on course for the many adventures she has. The film is fast paced without seeming rushed. The books may have been written for children but there is nothing childish about this film and it never talks down to its audience. It's PG-13, so if you have young children you may need to think about it. There is a bear fight that made my jaw drop and I would imagine produces a gasp out of every audience.
If you like fantasy, go. I doubt you will be disappointed. 4 1/2 toes up.
The production values here are better than anything since Lord of the Rings and they make the last big one, the Chronicles of Narnia, pt. 1 look like it was made for TV in comparison. An interesting comparison since the author intended them as a sort of rebuttal to the converted C.S. Lewis' undisguised Christian themed Narnia series. But if your looking for any religious debate or even discussion you won't find it here.
What you will find is a fascinating fantasy adventure The story takes place in a parallel earth, one of many. On this earth, every human's soul resides in an animal form (called a daemon) that is their constant companion and speaks to them. Neither can exist without the other, so if one dies both die. There is a primal substance called Dust that among its properties would alive travel between between worlds. It is also believe to be related to Original Sin, it's very mention is taboo to the point of almost no one knows of it. Mention of its existence is like Galileo saying the earth isn't the center of the universe and one is asking for a world of trouble from the Magisterium. The Magisterium protects the Truth from heretics and other free thinkers.
Unfortunately for Lyra, a 12 year old girl, she does hear of it and is given a device that uses it, an alethiometer, or golden compass. It's the last one in existence. All others were collected and destroyed by the Magisterium. It's function is to reveal the truth if one can understand how to use it. Truth is a dangerous thing, so the Magisterium goes to any length to protect people from it. This puts Lyra on the run and on course for the many adventures she has. The film is fast paced without seeming rushed. The books may have been written for children but there is nothing childish about this film and it never talks down to its audience. It's PG-13, so if you have young children you may need to think about it. There is a bear fight that made my jaw drop and I would imagine produces a gasp out of every audience.
If you like fantasy, go. I doubt you will be disappointed. 4 1/2 toes up.
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Los Angeles
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Re: Golden Compass
Mon, March 31, 2008 - 11:12 PMIs this a movie review, or a rant? I'm sorry, but i believe your opening paragraph was very rude.
I am a Christian, and one who decided not to go see Golden Compass. It was not a knee-jerk descion, it was a well thought out and peaceful boycott.
It was the book that began the problem...these "deamon" spirits? and in the end, the children actually kill God. It is an athesist book and movie, and it is not one i would want to support. These are not flippant, go-with-the-flow ideals.
Further, that silly comment about voting for Bush because "God wanted them too" is very strange, and an unneccesary stab. Many Christians did vote for President Bush, and that was because he had the moral values we believe in. Thank you very much.
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie, and it was interesting reading your review. I wish, however, you did not chose to be so "knee-jerk" in your reactions to Christians and their choice to boycott the movie. -
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Re: Golden Compass
Tue, April 1, 2008 - 12:52 AMOh, dear. Here I go.
No one becomes an atheist watching a fantasy movie any more than they believe in talking animals or witchcraft after watching The Wizard of Oz. Lord of the Rings takes place in a fantasy world that existed eons before anything in the Bible. Did you boycott it for its atheistic theme? In all sci-fi movies that take place in the future, no Rapture has taken place. Do you boycott them for similar reasons?
The use of "daemon" comes from one of it's original literal meanings of an attendant spirit. In the fantasy world of the Golden Compass you are immediately told at the start of the film that in this world, people's souls in this parallel earth are not inside their bodies but walk beside them. This is one of the reasons it's called fantasy. The other original meaning of daemon, is a mighty being (no inherent evil connotation). I hope you don't boycott Linux because you are afraid of having daemons in your home.
You seem to know nothing of the books other than what you were told. The children do not kill God in the books. This lie was circulated in the email campaign denouncing the movie. Yes, the Authority dies but he is not killed by the children. He is neither the enemy nor evil but does die. The point of the books is to not blindly trust those that tell you they speak for God but to think for yourself. Historically, such institutions have done everything in their power to destroy not only free thought but truth when they felt it threatened them in any manner. What struck me about the Golden Compass and the others of the series is the reverence Philip Pullman has for the Bible and also what it teaches. And he honors and preserves that while attacking false institutions that claim to represent it.
Did you also boycott 10,000 B.C.? I heard of no organized boycott on this film yet it is far more blatantly insulting to those of Judeo-Christian belief. It is the story of Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. God dies here too. Here, he is pure evil and called The Almighty, one of 3 (a lame trinity reference) "evil" technologically advanced humans of which he is the last one, enslaving all of humanity. Oh, and Satan betrays him because he has the hots for "Eve" (Evolet).
10,000 B.C. should not be seen because it is lame and a bad movie even for an action movie.
I have many Christians among my friends and family. And quite a few of them related to me how they were told to vote for Bush from the pulpit. I have seen nothing in Bush's actions that show him to be a Christian. He pays no more than lip service to the beliefs. There are some Christians who won't see a Harry Potter movie because they believe it promotes witchcraft. I saw the play Wicked with one.
Do you have a review on any fantasy movie? Pan's Labyrinth? Hellboy? Harry Potter?
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Get a Compass Faithful
Tue, April 1, 2008 - 2:06 AMOh, God, only a Christian would see no humor in atheism. The thing that always fascinates me is this perception by the religious that God needs an army to protect him/her. For God sake, give him/her some credit if at first you believe he/she exists. Where's your faith? -
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Re: Get a Compass Faithful
Tue, April 1, 2008 - 8:27 PM -
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Re: Get a Compass Faithful
Thu, April 3, 2008 - 9:08 AMPersonally, I wouldn't judge a movie I haven't seen that's based on a book I haven't read. I guess I prefer to think for myself. Of course, most religions would go out of business if people thought for themselves. But that's neither here nor there. When I was a kid, I had no idea that "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was a Christian allegory but learning so later in life didn't make me dislike the book in retrospect or avoid the movie. Hell, if I avoided every movie that was a Christ allegory I might have never seen "Cool Hand Luke" which is one of my favorite movies.
Anyway, back to this book and this movie.
I'm glad I read the book before seeing "The Golden Compass" and I'm also glad I saw it at the $1 theater because even then I kind of wanted a refund. (I couldn't care less if it's a commercial for atheism especially when commercials for Christianity are so ubiquitous.) Anyway, I really enjoyed the first book (I'm still muddling through the second which is less compelling) and had high hopes for the movie. As adaptations go, this one was pretty weak. Yeah, they got the eye candy right but the movie seems to misunderstand our protagonist, Lyra.
I have no beef with Dakota Blue Richards, she was great. But Lyra is so dynamic in the book; she really drives the action forward. In the movie, she's either passive or reactive.
The movie smelled of compromises; I could almost hear the meetings between the studio and the producers -- "Uh, we've really gotta underplay this anti-Church message"; "Uh, let's not make that polar bear fight too violent -- this is a kid's movie"; "Let's keep it under 90 minutes, the young ones have short attention spans"...
This movie needed a champion, like Terry Gilliam, behind it. Oh well. -
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Re: Get a Compass Faithful
Thu, April 3, 2008 - 12:56 PMI have no problem with Christianity in movies. I'm really looking forward to the Narnia series finally being done right after many cheesy low budget attempts. And one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time is The Day the Earth Stood Still, which is the Easter Story done as sci-fi. I actually get irked by Christian movies that get it wrong. For example, I avoided The Nativity Story back in 2006 because one of the scenes in the commercials and pointed out by reviewers was about Joseph having all these doubts about Mary's faithfullness. This is a direct contradiction of the gospel account. I don't understand how someone could make a religious movie that wasn't faithful. Because then it's about getting their money but with a slap in the face to their beliefs.
I'm actually happy I saw The Golden Compass before I read the books. It's very fast paced, combines scenes and even does some out of order so that it can be packed in under two hours. I thought it did a good job at this but this sacrifices a lot of depth in the characters and story. Other things are very toned down, like what an amazing and accomplished liar Lyra can be which is crucial in the books and what an utter bastard and how dismissive Lord Asriel is to her. The book shows what a rebellious hellion Lyra can be which is just not carried across in the single line, "Who says I'm a lady? Take it back. I ain't no lady. Take it back." I appreciated the books more, which is typical but I can see how the movie might be a disappointment for those that read the book first. I thought the cast was fine and I think Nicole Kidman played Mrs. Coulter perfectly.
The final scenes of the book were filmed but cut from the movie. Likely a studio marketting decision. Unfortunate, since the end of the book explains what "Dust" is and the reference from Bible where they take its name. "It's telling me I'm bringing Lord Asriel what he needs." is a much more cheerful ending than the book. Supposedly, they were going to start the 2nd movie with the already filmed ending to be more dramatic. Maybe it will be a deleted scene on the DVD.
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