We went to see Pirates Of The Caribbean - Chinese Fire Drill today, and much fun was had.  

We also saw a trailer for The Golden Compass, and it looks all cool.  Somebody tell me something about it besides "Based on a novel"?

Ok, I dont want to spoil your idea of this movie (The Golden Compass, the Phillip Pullman novels) before you see it (its not even out), so feel free to ignore this post.










(spoilers...)



I kinda hate the novel(s). I read all three of them.

The fantasy elements are very cool, but the whole thing is cruel and nihilistic and smug when you step back and look at the whole message. It is going to be touted as a Harry Potter alternative, I imagine, but it's not quite as fun.

Armored Polar Bears???

 Dang that damn Dharma Initiative was futher along than we realized. Sayid and Locke are going to need some bigger guns.

- Ed C.

FWIW, I loved the novels ... and yeah, they're cruel and painful.  Very, very dark stuff.  If it seriously gets billed as a Harry Potter alternative then there are gonna be a bunch of really horrified pre-teens in the theaters.

The armored polar bears should be awesome ... both because the whole concept is awesome and because the main polar bear is a really cool character.

But the girl lead, Lyra, gets all the really great scenes and lines.  She's a really nicely done spunky character (caveat:  at least in the novels).  Pullman deftly manages the delicate balance between her sometimes being able to pull stuff off because she's just a kid and people underestimate her and sometimes being unable to accomplish things she tries, because she's just a kid and hasn't matured into adult abilities (physical or mental) yet.

In short, she gets enough realistic suffering that I, for one, delight in her occasional ability to outwit and out-talk the many evil adults around her.

I liked 'em. They were nastier and darker than conventional children's literature, but great because of that.

Quote from: Abyssal MawThe fantasy elements are very cool, but the whole thing is cruel and nihilistic and smug when you step back and look at the whole message.

The films will probably end up being fairly different from the novels: the last I heard, they were going to cut out all religious elements from the storyline. Still, the original message was basically that you should concentrate on creating a Heaven on Earth since promises of an afterlife cannot be trusted, and I can't really see anything wrong with that.

Personally, I did enjoy the series, very much so. And it will be interesting to see whether the script can do justice to the Panserbjørne, instead of turning them cute and cartoonish.

The religious elements were the ones that really kind of made it ugly. I loved the familiars. Like how everyone had that unique familiar that represented his soul. Mine would be a snarling-yet-winsome terrier.

Quote from: Abyssal MawThe religious elements were the ones that really kind of made it ugly.

Well, the books made no bones about being against organized religion, which would understandably bother someone with religious convictions... They were written as an "anti-Narnia" of sorts.

Yeah. And I love Narnia. Narnia is real to me.

And I'm not even a Christian or anything.

Whenever I hear the books being talked about, they sound brilliant. The sort of thing I'd really, really enjoy.

I bought them all. Tried to read the first one. It was like trying to eat treacle with my eyes.

The man's prose isn't verbose. It's made of molasses, diluted with tar. He makes Tolkien look like Chuck Palahniuk.

Still, the films won't have to have anything to do with that kind of nonsense, so I'll give the first one a go. Maybe the ideas can get through to me without the filter of glue.
- Q

Quote from: QuireWhenever I hear the books being talked about, they sound brilliant. The sort of thing I'd really, really enjoy.

I bought them all. Tried to read the first one. It was like trying to eat treacle with my eyes.

The man's prose isn't verbose. It's made of molasses, diluted with tar. He makes Tolkien look like Chuck Palahniuk.

Still, the films won't have to have anything to do with that kind of nonsense, so I'll give the first one a go. Maybe the ideas can get through to me without the filter of glue.
- Q

As a purely disinterested party, I must nevertheless express to you the joy which your use of metaphor has brought me.

Quote from: GrimGent. . .Panserbjørne. . . .

i'm sold just on that word.

must use that more!

I loved the trilogy.  It's a great combination of an incredible fantasy world and some powerful anti-god philosophy.  It was actually half of my 6th grade class at the time that convinced me to read it.  Most of them hated the ending, but loved the rest.  I loved the whole thing.

Quote from: J ArcaneAs a purely disinterested party, I must nevertheless express to you the joy which your use of metaphor has brought me.

QFT.  You have certainly raised the bar on metaphors.  :raise:

I haven't read the books but if the setting is as complex as it sounds I hope that Hollywood can pull off a good job of translating it to the screen.  Of course Narnia and LOTR seemed to come out pretty well so maybe I'll give it a shot.  Not having read the books may actually make me enjoy it more.