One Paragraph Review: The Golden Compass

I think this is a great example of what happens when a small rodent eats ten to twenty pages of a movie script and the movie is made anyway. The Golden Compass has an amazing quality of inadequately explaining its character's motivations or decisions, the story elements or the plot structure. Visually and conceptually, I loved every second of this movie. I loved the vibrant steampunk theme combined with the way the world feels alien and different, yet is obviously a mirror image of earth (Scandinavian names for bears, similar continent structure, etc...). However, it feels almost flippantly paced, such that watching it too closely can make you ask an awful lot of questions and feel like you missed a scene or two. Lots of fun, just don't pay too much attention.

One Paragraph Review: The Golden Compass

This was visually an amazing movie. Very well done. Beyond that, however, the movie felt like less than the sum of its parts. The world and lore is engaging, but the whole thing just doesn't seem to click. There were so many characters, landscapes and plot developments that you never really got much depth to any of it. I really could have done with 1/3 less the characters and without the feeling that the movie really wanted to be Lord of the Rings. I realize it's part of a trilogy, but I felt a bit cheated by having so much storyline but so little of it being resolved. All in all though, it was a good way to spend two hours. And it was sure pretty.