(no subject)

[rymenhild]

No, I am not pleased about the missing three chapters at the end of the movie. I wasn't that unhappy immediately after I saw the movie, but I came home afterwards and read the chapters. To be overly melodramatic, those chapters are the theological soul of the text, and the filmmakers have intercised them from the body. Even so, I can't be particularly sad, because The Golden Compass film has Lyra.

Dakota Blue Richards owns Lyra Belacqua Silvertongue in a way I have never, ever seen a child actor own a character before. Every time she opens her mouth with a new outrageous story, she sells it with her clear eyes and her confident voice. Every defiant stare of Dakota's, every tilt of her lip, every brave-but-shaky step into the unknown, is absolutely and positively Lyra. What a joy to watch.

There were other beautiful things about the movie, and I'm sure other people's movie posts will tell you about them. For me, all I can say is Lyra. Lyra. Lyra.

Edit, 12/8: I just saw that Mick LaSalle in the SF Chronicle used the same intercision metaphor I used, and got there first. Darn.

Comments

[newredshoes]

That scene where she seduces the Bear King (I don't even care about the names at this point) -- shivers. I was completely riveted. The casting worried me for the longest time, because the glimpses we got in the trailers didn't seem that promising, but holy cow, they found a little girl who is the perfect combination of Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, and who gets the gutsy wildness. And then there's Pan.

I'll just be over here in this corner gurgling happily for a while.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Not that it really matters, but Phillip Pullman thought they chose the right place to end it. Don't know that I agree, but I guess it's something. *loves Lyra*

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

That's quite interesting, actually. I wonder why he thinks so.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I'm not really sure. All he said was that once he thought about it, it made "perfect sense" to end it there. I could try and find the article to see if he was any more detailed than that -- I think he did also say that he felt those three chapters would be the ideal opening for the second movie, if they make it. Beyond that, my best guess is that he wants to like it and is trying to be very open minded. I'm trying to keep cynical, money-related accusations out of my head -- they wouldn't ring very consistently with Pullman's personality as I know it (overall, he really does not seem to be the sort to worry about how things he say in public might affect things like sales).

[saphyria.livejournal.com]

My main problem with the ending was that they showed those scenes that ended the book in the trailer, but now that'll be the... beginning? of the second movie.

Not to mention the fact that (spoiler)Roger will die like...what, five minutes into the film, now?

But good things: the terror and wrongness of intercision was brilliantly and sickeningly portrayed. It really captured the stomach-turning aspect of it that was so well portrayed in the book. Pan was adorable. Dakota was perfect as Lyra. Nicole Kidman was freaking creepy and utterly amazing at Ms. Coulter. Lord Faa made me happy.

And Ma Costa is totally that world's Molly Weasley.

:D

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Yes. Intercision was done quite well. I don't know why Pan couldn't turn into a moth and fly through the fence, though!

[saphyria.livejournal.com]

! I'm so glad someone else thought of that, too. Aura and I were all "Um... why doesn't he turn into a lady bug or something small enough to get through?"

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Oh good. I've been skimming some less than pleased mainstream reviews; your post is the first reaction I've seen from someone whose tastes overlap mine, and now I'm looking forward to the film a bit more than I was....

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

The complaints the mainstream reviews have are all more or less justified. The movie really doesn't bother to explain the philosophical backstory, and it avoids verbalizing anything that might smack of anti-Christianity. That said, it's possible to watch the movie and read in the theology and philosophy. I recommend thinking of the movie as a companion piece to the book rather than a stand-alone; it succeeds as a companion, but not as a work in its own right.