The Golden Compass

Finally it came limping in 10 days late, so I watched it. Enjoyable to watch in a drivel-icious way, when one is in the mood for nothing much and holds no expectations. Well, take 4 parts Star Wars, 4 parts Harry Potter, 1 part LotR and 1 part The Sting (the part where Paul Newman first appears) - mix it up in a basin with half a pint of blue dye.

It is always nice to see old reliables like Christopher Lee, though. The heroine had no character ("plucky orphan" is all), and there was nothing in the film aside from visuals. Nicole Kidman is beautiful and her first gown in the film is stunnng (I was wrong - it's not the first. Actually the one I like is half an hour in when the little girl is wearing a blue dress). It's shocking to see her spank the monkey ====:O

It made me feel funny to see a chinchilla collar in the film. In the future will people "love" animals only through computer generated shadows, or, indeed, is that what is happening now?

I forgot to add that there's no weather in the film. Although much of it takes place in the frozen lands of the north, no one is cold at all, and even when the uncle is standing on a crest surveying the ice plain and speaking no cloud of icy breath comes from his mouth. That quite struck me.

Labels: Netflix