Golden Compass Sneak Peak

[catsclaw227]

This movie was not good at all. I applaud the originality of the setting/world/people, but the acting and plot was weak. Half way through the movie I was wondering when it would end. I'd say it is only one notch above D&D: The Movie.

I had the opposite feeling. I liked the story, the subtleties, and it made me go out and buy the books to read.

It wasn't the best fantasy movie I have seen, but I was very entertained.

 

[Mark Hope]

I haven't read the books or seen the film (and probably won't before it comes to DVD.) I do, however, want it to do very well indeed. But only because Weitz' next project is likely to be the first Elric movie, and I am very angsty that it do well. I'd hate for it to get tarred by association if Golden Compass tanks. I'm a bit selfish like that

 

[Thanee]

I had the opposite feeling. I liked the story, the subtleties, and it made me go out and buy the books to read.

It wasn't the best fantasy movie I have seen, but I was very entertained.

Same here... I will surely get the books to read eventually, though I do realize, that a lot of things are quite different in there.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If it is better than Eragon, I'm in.

 

[redmagerush]

It was enjoyable but the pacing was some of the worst I'd ever seen. The whole movie was just bang bang bang bang firing off scenes with no transitions or explanations. No one seemed to have any real motivation.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

It was enjoyable but the pacing was some of the worst I'd ever seen. The whole movie was just bang bang bang bang firing off scenes with no transitions or explanations. No one seemed to have any real motivation.

That was mainly due to the time compression. They didn't have time to go through the development in the books and had to hit certain areas in order to keep the storyline going for the next movie. I'll admit there were a lot of stumbles mostly due to either compressing down to fit in a movie format or the alterations to soften the underlying philosophical point of the books. They used plot events and revelations like a bludgeon to the head. But it really makes me wonder if they should have stuck to the first script. Given that what we saw had been rewritten after the studio executives got antsy over some of the themes in the original.

 

[Mark]

If it is better than Eragon, I'm in.

Setting the bar that low will lead to a Three's Company feature film.

 

[Zaukrie]

Another 15-20 minutes would have been good. My wife liked the movie, but hated how they made Lyra so dependent on everyone else. One of the great things about the book was that she was able to fend for herself quite well. I also don't understand the switching of the timing on the bear fight.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Setting the bar that low will lead to a Three's Company feature film.

But it at least excludes D&D movie sequels!

 

[Mistwell]

We saw it last night.

Overall, I enjoyed it.

However, I felt they did too much exposition, and not enough character development. If you feel the need to explain that much stuff, then you need the movie to go three hours instead of two. If you want it to be two hours, don't cut the character development just so you can explain yet another detail about the world that isn't particularly relevant to this plot but might be relevant to a future plot.

And since the movie tanked pretty bad at the box office relative to costs (grossed $26M on first weekend, despite predictions of $60M by the studio earlier), we now may not get to see those other two planned movies, making all that excess exposition for the purposes of a future film wasted anyway!