Movie Review: The Golden Compass

Rubbish.

To be fair, I had only just finished reading the book when I saw the movie, so the differences may have been more glaring than they should have been. However, the movie couldn't have been more different in its understanding of the book to my understanding.

The filmmakers seemed hell bent on bending the story of The Golden Compass to fit some kind of Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings mould, with snarling villains, deux ex machina plot points and a motley crew of characters. It didn't fit, so it broke. They would have been better served trying to follow the emotional journey of the book, with its incredibly poignant relationship between the humans and their mystical soul companions called daemons, rather than forcing a Hollywood plot out of it.

I imagine the film might work for those who haven't read the book, but I'm not sure what they would learn from the movie, as all the plot subtleties have been subsumed by special effects.

The most poignant part of the book, for example, was a scene where the heroine, Lyra, and her daemon Pan, try to get as far a way from each other as possible. This causes them both physical and emotional pain and as Pan tries desperately to reach his goal, stretching the mystical bond between Lyra and himself further and further, they give up and come back together, hugging and weeping at the ordeal of being so far apart. This makes a scene later on when the villains of the piece are attempting to cut Lyra and Pan apart for good sickening in its cruelty, as we know what's at stake.

Of course, that first scene isn't in the movie. The second is, but it has no feeling. Meanwhile, the filmmakers think it's more important to spend a fortune showing two CGI armoured bears fighting. That fight is in the book, but the stakes involved are much more important than in the movie. The plot has been re jigged and the reasons for the bear fight are meaningless.

Finally, the book ends on a tragic note, although setting up for its sequel. The movie sets up for its sequel on an terribly fabricated happy note, which I think has guaranteed no sequel will be forth coming.

Hollywood. Please try again when all memory of this version has been lost.