I want an Alethiometer for Yule!

I finally got my ass out of the house and saw The Golden Compass. Good flick! Overall, I give it a "heck yeah!" It was certainly very pretty, and many of the sets had just enough of a foreign atmosphere to make me feel like I was indeed in an alternate universe. For the most part, the special effects were all right, though I'm the sort who doesn't like any effects that I actually notice, and on occasion the movement of some of the animated characters was a little rough.

For the most part, the casting was pretty great. The young Dakota Blue Richards was really terrific as Lyra. That's a meaty role for a kid and she pulled it off well. I also really liked Simon McBurney as Fra Pavel, the Magesterium lackey; he was just as slimy and unpleasant as he should have been. Nicole Kidman did well as Mrs. Coulter, but I'm not sure the part was written as well as it could have been. She just didn't seem to have the subtle deviousness and calculating nature I thought defined Mrs. Coulter in the book.

So many of the characters were really great. The witch Serafina Pekkala was one of my favourites from the book and I definitely liked her in the movie, though I would have liked to see more of her (of course, it doesn't hurt that Eva Green is so very pretty). I was really happy with how Pan, Lyra's daemon, came out, as I liked him so much in the book. I was a little disappointed that Mrs. Coulter's golden monkey lacked a good bit of the nasty personality of his book counterpart, though I think that came out of Philip Pullman's descriptive writing rather than lots of actions that could translate well to the screen.

As far as the story goes, there is definitely room for disappointment if comparing it to the book, but I'm trying to view it on its own merits. It's not especially deep (something that could well be improved upon as the story develops in The Subtle Knife), which is a shame, since many of the concepts that were introduced could be expanded on tremendously. There also wasn't a great deal of character development, with the exception of Lyra. We didn't get to know much about the motivations of anyone else. However, something Pullman said (according to something I read somewhere on the interweb) was that some changes from the book were not a very big deal, as long as the movie stuck to telling Lyra's story. I'm inclined to agree with that sentiment, and say that it did that quite well.

As a cinematic experience, it felt as though a lot of things were left out, though not in the sense of skipping anything. Rather, it just wasn't edited very well and seemed rushed. On the other hand, I definitely thought the movie was emotionally engaging. At least, I got choked up several times when things got tense. It was especially difficult to watch Mrs. Coulter's nasty monkey daemon when he grabbed the Gyptian boy's daemon, as well as when he attacked Pan.

I'd say my biggest complaint was with the really awful Kate Bush song at the end. If I wasn't a sit-through-the-credits kind of gal, that song would have had me fleeing the theater. Thankfully, it ended and better music played over the remainder of the credits.

All in all, it wasn't overwhelmingly spectacular, but it was entertaining and enjoyable, and definitely pretty to look at.