The Golden Compass

[cathyr19355]

esrblog and I just got back from a trip with pmat and shakati to see "The Golden Compass," the movie version of the first volume of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. There's no need for a cut here, since it's possible to name what's right and wrong with the movie without referring to any plot points at all.

I enjoyed the movie. Visually, the movie was a powerful and surprisingly accurate rendition of the world Pullman describes in the book. The casting was excellent (Nicole Kidman was particularly good in the role of Mrs. Coulter), and the scriptwriters did a wonderful job of compressing the action into movie-length without compromising its flavor.

There's only one problem with Compass. Most of what makes Pullman's novel compelling, or at least interesting, are the motivations of the characters and why they are fighting on the side on which they're fighting. Those motivations are sufficiently complex that they can't be described very well in a movie, and the movie accordingly abbreviates and glosses over a lot of them. The result is a movie that will be powerfully evocative for anyone who's read and enjoyed the book--and cryptic and frustrating for everybody else.

Well, that explains why it's doing so poorly at the box office, at least in the U.S. Sorry, New Line; not all fantasy trilogies are created equal.

[EDIT: In light of pmat's comment I should probably amend "cryptic and frustrating" to "cryptic, boring, and/or frustrating."]

Comments

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

It is very different in places, especially the ending, but it's still quite good. It's just a different sort of good; a slightly happier ending, some simplification in exchange for a bit more comedy and action, and so forth. I'd still recommend it, though if you're getting it on DVD anyway, you might wait a little longer so that your memory of the book isn't going to be so fresh as to constantly make you compare the two. (I saw the movie four or five years after reading the book, so I had conveniently forgotten many details and thus got to be surprised all over again by even some of the parts that are identical between the two. And certainly by the changed parts.)

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Then I may wait to rent it, since I certainly *would* be comparing it to the book, now. Thanks.