The key fact, if you decide to try The Golden Compass, is that its world is not like Middle Earth, Fantasia, or Oz. The movie, which was to be the first in a trilogy, is heavy in exposition and politics, with the inhabitants of Jordan College and the Magistirium having more similarities with the political halls of Naboo than most other films. That first half drags the rest of the fantasy so drearily that it serves the rest of the film cold. Finally, no matter how they slice it from what I'm told, the ending was the lowest point of the film, bar none. It's much better than the book, but it's just terrible. Anyone unfamiliar with the book, let alone that it is the first in a trilogy, is left unsatisfied.
Any hint of atheism is non-existent. My concern was the lack of quality in the effects of the daemon's, particularly Mrs. Coulter's monkey. Daniel Craig's role was reduced to little more than a cameo, and the brutality of the fights makes the film worthy of it's PG- 13 rating. In Canada, The Golden Compass was marketed to kids, with souvenirs, incentives, and paraphernalia sold at department stores and fast food restaurants. After seeing a polar bear snap another bear's neck and a child left for dead in the freezing cold, this film is not for kids and, furthermore, it could be said this was New Line's marketing department's big "Oops" of 2007. Thank goodness they saved Roger's fate from being shown!
With a film heavy in exposition and politics in the first half and anticlimactic in the end, I cannot recommend The Golden Compass to anyone, particularly to kids.
Any hint of atheism is non-existent. My concern was the lack of quality in the effects of the daemon's, particularly Mrs. Coulter's monkey. Daniel Craig's role was reduced to little more than a cameo, and the brutality of the fights makes the film worthy of it's PG- 13 rating. In Canada, The Golden Compass was marketed to kids, with souvenirs, incentives, and paraphernalia sold at department stores and fast food restaurants. After seeing a polar bear snap another bear's neck and a child left for dead in the freezing cold, this film is not for kids and, furthermore, it could be said this was New Line's marketing department's big "Oops" of 2007. Thank goodness they saved Roger's fate from being shown!
With a film heavy in exposition and politics in the first half and anticlimactic in the end, I cannot recommend The Golden Compass to anyone, particularly to kids.