Beyond 'The Golden Compass': The Magic of Philip Pullman (2007) (V)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Isbouts (writer)
William A. Schwartz (writer)

Release Date:

20 November 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Unlock the astonishing truths and hidden meanings inside the pages of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass...

Cast

James Hayward Brinkley

...

Narrator

Runtime:

70 min | 72 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (NTSC Color) | Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (US version)

Certification:

USA:Not Rated (video rating) | Australia:PG

Company:

Pantheon Studios

An interesting if dull documentary on a genius.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I love Phillip Pullman's books. The His Dark Materials and Lyra's Oxford would easily appear on my top ten favourite books of all time. I love the film adaption and I love the author's great ideas. Now comes an interesting documentary on where Phillip Pullman gets it all from. It was definitely intriguing and I learnt a few surprising facts out of it. Although I would have much preferred if they extended it a bit because they forgot to talk about a few matters which interested me a lot like witches even though it says it does. Over all I think it was great but also in the documentary they sometimes have the characters playing out scenes from the books. I stress that they should have taken a little bit of care with it. The girl who played Lyra was just plain annoying with all the pointless scenes of her skipping around and the visual effects (although it was a documentary) they were far from satisfying. I only recommend it to DIE HARD fans of the book and the movie (which it does not mention once.)