The Golden Compass: Too Hyped Up, and Totally Not Worth It

Last night, I went to see "The Golden Compass." It was disappointing, to say the least. It would have been disappointing even without all the hype, but the hype surrounding it helped build it up some in my mind, and it fell far far far short of expectations.

Nicole Kidman (Mrs. Coulter) did the only decent acting in the whole thing (except for Daniel Craig (Lord Asriel), but he had only a small role). Everyone else sounded like they were reading from a script. I'm not joking.

It was also sloooooooooooooooow. Tenish minutes into the movie, my boyfriend nudged me and said, "Forgive me if I fall asleep."
"That bad, huh?"
"Forgive me if I fall asleep."
He took a pretty good nap, waking up in time for the bear fight scene, which was one of two decent scenes in the film. The other was the battle at the end of the film.

However, even the second battle was disappointing as it was over-animated. The CGI animations were over-the-top -- to the extent that it made the film unenjoyable. I think the problem was more that things that didn't need to be computer generated, were.

On a plus side, the bears (Loreks) were wonderful. They looked real, and they did a great job on them. And, as previously mentioned, the fight scene was amazing, enjoyable and surprisingly believable.

I was really excited about the movie, and I love fantasy stories in general, and the books were great when I read them years ago. I really wish the goodness of the book had translated over to the movies.

Needless to say, I say wait until it's out on DVD. Or better yet, wait until you can check it out for free at the library.