The Golden Compass

I don't know who would be disappointed by this movie more, someone who hadn't read the book and therefore would be completely confused as to what was going on, or someone who knew the original material, and could see how badly it was turned into a movie. The headlong rush through elements of the story make this film difficult to watch. While all movies that are based on books must by necessity eliminate certain subplots, the decision to reorder the events in the story, and make some elements out of whole cloth, are the earmarks of a bad project. And chopping the last bit off, just to set up a sequel? Disgusting. This movie actually made my wife angry.

The opening voice-over, in which the viewer is simply told elements that took the reader chapters to appreciate, is a punch in the stomach to anyone who read the book, and insults the viewer as well. I imagine this was added later on, when the clumsy filmmakers realized that their product had action that conveyed no meaning.

Visually, the movie is an achievement—the design of the sets, costumes, characters, and action is wonderful. And the casting is good—the characters do well with the parts that they are given. However, the lousy screen writing and directing doom this project.