Review of The Golden Compass

Unfortunately, I was dissatisfied with the movie. Officially, however, this is my review. Many of my detractors (apparently) seem to be religiously opposed to the movie. I, on the other hand, take a more literary approach. As it stands, this was a work of literature and deserves to be noted for its literary achievements. Here's a general outline.

First, the characters in the movie were well portrayed. The setting was mostly English (European), the language I mean. The elements of good and evil were well expressed by the actors. I had hoped, however, that the characters assented more the characters in the book series. Lord Asriel, as portrayed in the book, is a stern and cold man. In the movie he was more cordial but with some hints of solemnity. Some of his remarks were austere in nature; however his disposition was not well portrayed of the literary character. Lyra was well played. I think the next movie should be played by the same character(s). She was very candid in her expressions. I think her courage is unoriginal and lacked surrealism. The graphics art was sublime. The producers did a splendid job with the graphics design of the daemons and artificial characters. I don't think any of you would be surprised at the great job the producers are doing nowadays with graphics design. I think there is room for improvement with every movie, however. The battlefield could have been more lit. It was a bit dark. I couldn't see much of the battle.

Some of the literary plot elements were not explicated as much as I had wished. The book I think does a better job—that's always the case. The story begins much different in the book than the movie. In the movie it begins with the telling of the "parallel universe." Then, for the sake of preserving the movies vitality (for those of you who wish to see the movie), the book begins with Lyra entering the Resting Room. I like to call it, The Forbidden Den of Masculinity and Chauvinism. (I know, right? Creative? Maybe not.)

Now the religious interpretation which some are anticipating. The worldview was obviously antagonistic towards any monotheistic religion, be that Islam, Judaism and, or Christianity. More pointedly, the author seeks from an anti-Christian outlook to ethics. I think here is where most of the debate lies. Personally, I find that if the Christian is going to make a case against these books and its author, they should brush up on their ethics. Perhaps even an introductory course in ethics would do them some good. I'm not going to start the debate about "Divine Command Theory" here, but suffice it to say that the worldview of ethics is highly humanistic and atheist, too. I happen to see these interchangeable; they differ in some points, which I will discuss later. There is this pseudonym called the Magisterium (sounds like a Latin term) for the church. The church pseudonym however is pointedly catholic. I think here is where the atheist finds himself in a bind if he hasn't looked at the different types of church government. I think here is where I like to point out that I love my denomination in particular, i.e., Presbyterian. (We pride ourselves in our formal government.) There is also the notion of Free-will within the ideology of "freedom" from the Magisterium.

So then, there is a thumbnail sketch of my movie review. Hope you guys liked it.

Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.