Monday, January 21, 2008
#9
Delicious, weird, and satisfying. Pullman creates a world just a hair's-breadth off from our own, and instantly captured my imagination the way Ursula K. LeGuin or Julian May did when I was a much younger lad.
The Golden Compass dares to suggest that the things kids are taught by adults may not in fact be true at all, and refuses to treat its audience like children. Illicit love affairs, gore, and phony theology abound. I read it in a day.
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6 comments:
Great thing you read the book before catching the movie, because, you guessed it, the movie ain't so hot. It's a shame, the acting was pretty allright but the story wasn't handled well.
I think you will enjoy the next one (The Subtle Knife) even more. It's a trepanning novel by Ramsey Campbell in disguise for children. Awesome.
Nick, to lazy to log in anymore
Hey--thanks for the awesome Xmas card/travelogue. We both enjoyed it a lot.
wow... I freaking LOVED the movie (alicia did too)
oh well, to each his own... I thought the performances were great, the VFX were great... it was thrilling (and I absolutely detested lion, witch and the wardrobe, which are sort of similar)
definitely see it and judge for yourself though, esp since you liked the book so much
:) jv
And thanks for your card--we needed some catching up in some shape or form and it was great way to do it on the sly.
SPOILERZ
On the movie--it wasn't as bad as Lion, Witch & Wardrobe*, I agree with you there. The performances were well done, esp. Lyra for the most part. Elliot's tiresome 'river Phoenix' hair mannerisms almost ruined Scoresby's character for me. Pan was wonderful. Iorek was also handled reasonably well and the jawbone scene was a crowd husher where we were at. My main problems were the ways they condensed the story, and the admittedly spectacular vehicular effects they sacrificed for it. Yet, the effects for the Aleithiometer was gaudy. The Gobblers were not terrifying enough, indeed if you were not paying close attention to the one line of dialog you would have been completely in the dark. I also didn't like the way they handled Lyra's scene with Roger after he had lost his daemon--I remembered her having a complete and utter revulsion at what he had become. Ah, and I didn't care for where they decided to end the film one bit!
But I agree, he should see it for himself!
*Speaking of which--what are they thinking of for Prince Caspian? The White Witch encased in ice? The hell! I don't mind changes when they work (see LOTR) but that's just ass.
Nick
Also, on 'fantasy' films--I forgot to add that we saw Stardust and were very, very surprised at how great that film was. Really good. Not expecting that.
The Subtle Knife is excellent. Love the gay angels. Oops, was that a spoiler?
Almost done with an album inspired by the series. How's that for geeky?
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