The Golden Compass, IMHO

**this review is spoiler free**

So I saw the movie Saturday night with a friend. I think I need to see it at least a couple more time for formulate a more objective opinion (too many OMG SQUEEEE IT'S JUST HOW I IMAGINED IT OR MORESO!!!! moments), so this review will be short and sweet. :-)

Okay, so I went ballistic over the effects. Pullman's writing is very visual, and leant itself extremely well for the Big Screen. :-) The novel had a very Steam-Punk feel to it, and the movie took this aspect and ran with it, creating some of the most fabulous and intriguing forms of transportation. This made my friend, a writer of Steam-Punk, very very giddily happy.

One scene I have to talk about in particular was the Bear Fight. In the book, it was one of my most favorite scenes. I will not go into detail for spoiler reasons, so if you're curious why I liked this scene in particular, ask. :-) Anyway, in the movie, I didn't think this was possible ... I'm sitting there anticipating the dramatic end to the fight and it was 10X MORE exciting and surprising! There was arm-pumping involved. Completely unexpected. :-)

Now, the anti-religion part. I knew they had taken out the 'Church' antagonist, but it was fairly obvious (to me, at least) what they were talking about. The biggest let down was the big explanation near the end where they completely glossed over it and it didn't really work, instead of original 'Anti-church' ending from the book. At this point, I don't know how else they could have written it, but it'll be on my mind for a while now.

So, that's my opinion for now. :-) More details later!





... or not!