And Then The Polar Bears
I was very disappointed by the Golden Compass. Inevitably, it will be compared to Lord of the Rings, mostly because the first trailer explicitly tried to tie this to it,like they were conjoined cinematic twins. But The Golden Compass is a far inferior film than any one of the the three LoTR chapters.
It bears repeating (mostly because the hardcore LoTR fanboys won’t shut up about Tom Bombadil not being in the films) but no film can contain everything from the book. Following the book exactly, Lord of the Rings would have been an eighteen hour long musical. But The Golden Compass doesn’t try to follow the book at all.
Characters and scenes are pulled out of place, stripped bare and jammed into a standard three act framework that, while technically telling a story, does so at such a breakneck pace that there is little to no time for any one moment to sink in. Charactors have no time to reflect on how their actions have ramifications. Everyone runs around from one set piece to the next, collecting plot coupons. But without the quiet scenes to put things together or let things sink in, it all becomes just a meaningless rush from point A to point B. Surprises and plot twists form the book are disposed of by being mentioned casually and for no good reason way too early. “Did you hear about the crazy old king of the polar bears? He wants a daemon! Isn’t that nuts? Don’t tell anyone until act 2, though.”
The advertising for the film made a big deal about the Polar bears. OMG! They talk! And fight! And fight and fight and talk! Fight fight fight! talk talk talk! And are on screen for maybe ten minutes, before the most bloodless polar bear fight ever shuffles them off screen. Gone is the absurd tragedy of the bear king that so wants to be human, he carries a doll as stand in for his daemon and forces other bears to do the same.
Also, reading the book, your left with the impression that this is a steam powered civilization; that a combination of slightly different physical properties and the harrumphing bureaucracy of the Magisterium has kept this world in the early stages of the industrial revolution and that while people have managed to be innovative with the relatively primitive technology, they are in a tangential, feudal state of affairs. In the film, they have rocket powered, gyroscopic zeppelins, which look cool but are silly once you get beyond the gee whiz factor. That and everyone apparently lives in cities that were left over from Star Wars Episode I and imported from Naboo.
So, the movie is pretty. Dakota Blue Richardson shows that she has the potential to become a fine actress, since half the time she’s talking to CG animals who aren’t really there. And Sam Eliot steels the show. Everyone else is wasting there time though,or in the case of Eva Green, simply falling out of the sky to deliver exposition, which seems like a real waste of the Queen of the Witches to me.
Oh well, the books are still good.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I think I deleted a few people’s comments while cleaning out the spam filters. I’m sorry! Please comment again.
December 10th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
I posted a short defense of the film, which I also reviewed briefly on my site.
One of the things a lot of people had issues with was the pace. I thought it was fairly leisurely in contrast with the book. (The only quiet time in the book that I remember was Lyra having a bath at Mrs. Coulter’s and getting over her squeamishness about cleanliness.) One of the problems with the text was it *was* so jam-packed with information, which is one of the reasons I never got past book two: too busy for me, all the characters are unattractive, and while I really really wanted to be excited by the “anti-Narnia,” I just got bored.
Regarding the polar bears, I thought that subplot was treated fine despite renaming the King Bear. (Let’s face it, it was an all-out between Sal and Gandalf more than anything else.) But the little doll person daemon was prominent in the introduction scene of the King. Plus I have not seen an action sequence prompting some 150 adults to cry out “WHOA!” in a long time, not even the abysmal “300.”
Lastly, I didn’t mind them warming up the parental units to make the film more palatable (which is why I look forward to the response to the second film if it ever gets made, though a friend of mine has heard that the rest of the footage for book 1 is in the can already). One of the things I think we have to keep in mind is that we are all better served if the resistant populace gets in the seat in the first place–and then they read the books, and then they slowly get in contact with New! Shocking! Ideas! I also thought it made nice dramatic irony for Lord Asriel: “I’m bring something my father needs!” Yes…yes you are, kiddo.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Thanks for reposting caitri.
I don’t mind trimming for the sake of making the movie flow but, this one didn’t flow. It ran from one place to another with not enough room for the characters to really convince us that there was something important going on.