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.

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.