The Golden Compass was released in theatres in December 2007, with both fans, detractors, and even the director himself calling foul.
The catholic church was in an outcry about this film, since the series it came from had anti-religious themes. The fans were angry that they had changed the story, and the director, Chris Weitz, was angry that executives ordered changes during the post-production.
The order of the film has changed, the big organization in the film, the Magisterium, has changed, and even the ending (which admittedly was a big downer in the book and would make a better beginning for a sequel) was changed.
But, despite the Catholic church hating the film with a fiery passion, fans pretending the movie never existed, and New Line Cinema disappearing into Time Warner after the poor box office, the Golden compass is a great movie.
Before I go into the actual review, I'd like to discuss a certain topic... Transitions from book, to movie, to play, or to video game...
Generally, a book contains everything that happens in the story and gives insight into the character's thoughts, and unlike a movie, a book can last as long as the reader is interested.
A movie, by comparison, is much shorter than a book. You can't fit everything in there, and the story must have a continuous flow, otherwise the film feels padded and dull.
A theatrical performance is similar to a movie, but markedly different; a play will usually boil the story down to it's necessary scenes, sometimes combining a couple into one to cut it shorter... But, at the same time plays expand on the story by giving flesh to it. (I'll explain after the video games section)
Video games are the most unique of the four form of media... Unlike the three above, where the story is told to you, you live the story in a video game. It isn't some random person performing great feats, it's you. Not only that, but a video game can construct a world, and allow you to learn everything about that world if you so desire.
Video games and Plays have a different feel than books and movies... With a book, you can't see anything the words do not tell you about, and with a movie you see only what the camera sees. But, in a play you can see the background, and watch the background characters either live their lives or react to what's happening in the scene. In video games, you can talk to these background characters and learn their story.
Thus we have a hierarchy of media, ranging from what gives the most information in a story, to the least:
Video Games-> Books-> Plays-> Movies.
When you adapt a book to a movie, things will be cut, and they will change the story... It's how the medium is, and unless you are willing to watch and pay a lot of money for a 10 hour film, you aren't going to see everything that happened in one of the Lord of the Rings happen on screen.
With that said, here's the review of The Golden Compass...
The Golden Compass is set in in a sort of Steam punk world. But, instead of using steam, it more like arcane power that is running all the fantastic technology. In addition to the magic of their technology, everyone in the film has their own familiar, a daemon (pronounced in the film like demon, but the pronunciation is doubtful as some say day-mon, day-E-men, or day-men.) that represents their personality. While adult demons never change form, the daemon of children can change form at will, or depending on their person's emotions. This gives the movie a great feel to it. The steam punk makes you think that this is another world where daemons exist, and make it feel like a grand and adventurous world.
(I'd also like to note that I love the idea of Daemons. Even when the protagonist is supposed to be alone, she has her Daemon, Pan, with her as company. I can barely put into words how well that works, making it so that the main character always has someone to talk to, and isn't brooding alone or hiding her thoughts.)
The main character, Lyra Belacqua, is a girl from England, raised by her uncle at Jordan College. She spends her days playing with Gyptian kids and her best friend Roger, telling stories about a poisoned robe, and going to "war." Lyra is Merida done right. Lyra is actually brave, has a goal in mind, accomplishes her goal, and actually does stuff on her own! In addition, she is smart, and tricky... She utilizes what she knows about people, and uses it to get what she needs. You can really put your sympathy behind her and root for her.
The CGI in the film is phenomenal as well. How the daemons disappear into dust is beautiful, and all the animals, including the ice bears, look realistic even when they speak. Someone people complain that it got the Oscar for best CGI over Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean, but I say this... You don't believe that the CGI in those movies can exist. They are set in the real world, where things like Davy Jones and giant space robots don't exist. The Golden Compass sets up a world where arcane powered machines and talking animals exist. Thus, even if the CGI isn't as impressive, it is still better as it is more believable.
And now the big kicker, the story... I have read The Golden Compass, and The Subtle Knife so I do know the actual story... and personally I like the movie better. Granted, the movie might have been even better without the changes, but as it stands I enjoy the movie more.
The story flows very nicely, introducing stories and plot points that it follows through on, completing the story in a satisfying manner.
Everything introduced, from Mrs.Coulter to Iorek Byrnison's kingdom is all given a full story arc. Only at one point is part of the story forgotten (Iorek could've called the bears to fight in the final battle, but that can be explained away as the executives screwing with the story, or that the bears were too far away to bring in) but everything else, big and small, is brought together at the end.
Now, unlike Brave, I won't give a full summary of the event of The Golden Compass. The reason is that I find little fault in the events of the story, and the changes that would make the movie better, aren't actually related to the movie itself...
You see, the movie is great, and I can't think of what to fix in it... Sure it changed form the book and the executives screwed it over a bit, but it works in some ways... The ending is nice and fits better in making the ending of the book the beginning of the next movie, and the changing around of the ice kingdom (making it before the final battle instead of after) gives that plot a conclusion, and makes the ending less anti-climactic.
But there is of course, the obvious fix to the movie: turn the Magistrium back into the religious institution. The catholic church already hates the film, so you might as well go the full mile.
This has been Fixer Sue. I wish you good luck in your future endeavors. ^^
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