rivers_bend

I had just got the ending of my short story down, if not entirely right and was debating whether I should start my essay today as well, when my friend from my course phoned and asked if I wanted to go and see The Golden Compass with her and her boyfriend. That sounded perfect. So I did.

Review follows, under cut in case you want to know NOTHING about the film. I don't intend to be particularly spoilery however. As background, I have read the book three times, but the most recent of those was probably five years ago. I love it, and the series is one of my favourites.

First, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and on the whole thought it was amazing. The girl who plays Lyra is jaw-droppingly good. Especially when you consider that she spent at least half the film (and probably a bit more) acting against no one at all. Though perhaps that's easier to do if you're new to the whole acting gig anyway, and not used to playing off other people. She really... I just can't believe how amazing she was. I also must do a little squee cos she's from Brighton.

The daemons were pretty fantastic, especially Pan, who looked very real in all but one of his guises. And even that one was pretty good, just not perfect. The polar bears were also pretty spectacular.

The casting was phenomenal, Eva Green just WAS Serafina Pekala, in a totally unexpected way. Sam Elliot, Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman... all excellent. And the voice talents were spot on as well, despite some misgivings I had prior to seeing the film.

There were a couple places where the effects weren't quite as good as they might have been, and as expected, there was some of the richness of the book that got lost. The world-building was great, and I think they kept the spirit and meaning of the story really well.

the boy I went with had not read the books and he didn't feel lost or left behind in any way.

In conclusion, if you think you might like it, I think the chances are, you will.