The acting was actually superb. Dakota Blue Richards was amazing as Lyra. In what appears to be her first acting job, she was the leading lady of the movie. Also, Nicole Kidman and Sam Elliot were highlights of the exceptional cast.

The movie also looked beautiful. The set design, camera angles, and directing were great. There is not one flaw I could find in a single viewing. The way the movie was presented was equal to that of Narnia or Rings, both to which this movie will be compared. The bears and the daemon CGI was some of the best I’ve ever seen.

What made it a bad film was the script, and the editing. I’ve not read the books, but it seemed that they tried to cram the entire story into the movie. No adapting was done. The movie seem to be broken up into a series of tasks, like an RPG, that were only loosely connected. An example of this is Stardust. If you have every read the book, it is full of semi-connected events that really don’t serve the complete story. The movie was adapted in such a way that it flowed completely, and brought the intention, if not the exact words, to the screen.

I love mythology in movies, books and television. I never find myself lost in a mythology, but there was so much going on that I couldn’t keep up. The one thing the movie accomplished was enticing me to read the book (so I know what the heck was going on).

As far as the controversy, the overt anti-religious theme was not there. As with most movies, without the monologue present in the novel the hidden message is lost. Neither my son or wife picked up on any such message (i.e. the Majorum is the Church). I went in knowing the controversy, and still had difficulty seeing the parrallels.

In all, I give The Golden Compass an I-should-have-waited-for-the-DVD and wish-I-would-have-read-the-book first.

“The Golden Compass” is set to premier on December 7, during
the Christmas season, and will probably be heavily
advertised. This movie is based on a the first book of a
trilogy by atheist Philip Pullman. In the final book a boy
and girl kill God so they can do as they please. Pullman
left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a
2003 interview that “My books are about killing God.”

The movie is a watered down version of the first book and is
designed to be very attractive in the hope unsuspecting
parents will take their children to see the movie and
that the children will want the books for Christmas.

The movie has a well known cast, including Nicole Kidman,
Kevin Bacon, and Sam Elliott. It will probably be advertised
extensively, so it is crucial that we get the word out to
warn parents to avoid this movie.

Please consider a boycott of the movie and the books. Also,
pass this information along to everyone you know. This will
help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda
of the movie.

The first point to bring up is that calling for a boycott of ANY movie will cause MORE people to see the movie, not less. So these ‘organizers’ are only hurting their own cause. Bringing more attention to something is not the way to fight it. There is no such thing as bad publicity, especially for a movie.

Secondly, we are supposed to boycott this fantasy movie because the “boy and girl kill God”. Hmm. So shouldn’t we have boycotted The Passion of the Christ? Isn’t Passion supposed to be a true story of the killing of God? Or, how about Narnia, an allegory for killing God. Star Trek and Star Wars create a world in which God doesn’t exist at all. Shall I boycott them?

One particular statement in the letter bothered me. The movie is “designed to be very attractive in the hope unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie”. This statement is insinuating that the movie’s producers are anti-God hucksters trying to trick us parents into raising our kids to be atheists. It is obvious that the author of this letter is trying to be subversive in their attempt to convince us to boycott.

It’s just a movie! A fantasy movie. What appears to be a well produced, talent filled movie. The movie does not need to be more than entertainment. If we start boycotting things because of the religious beliefs of the original author…there wouldn’t be much left in Hollywood to watch.

I am now definitely taking all 5 of my children to see the movie on opening weekend. And if it is good, I will evangelize it to everyone I meet, as one should with good entertainment.

UPDATE: There is an interesting chart over here.