I just saw the movie!! [SPOILERS]

[Into-Dust]

Well since TSK is probably not going to be made, I think it's only fair we get the ending. Or at least on youtube or something.

[joo1]

iv not actually seen the film yet, after only gaining an interest for it after reading the books this last two weeks. i really wanna know what they've done to the ending! ...or should i just wait until i watch it tomorrow..?

[Into-Dust]

Nah, it's nothing they've really 'done' to it as such, they just finished the film when Lyra and Roger are sailing off in Lee Scorsby's balloon.

They filmed right up until the end, but cut it out, hoping to put it at the beginning of The Subtle Knife movie, not the end of The Golden Compass.

[joo1]

ah what! now i see, i didnt quite understand what everyone meant by it being cut out because of the trailers.. :/

[tgcfan]

New Line Cinema Mutilated The Northern Lights/Golden Compass!!!
Didn't they? My friend said she saw in a trailer for the movie the kissing scene (where Lyra walks into the sky) and then we went to see the movie and that scene wasn't even included! AND MOST OF THE SCENES WERE MESSED UP AND THEY STOLE FROM CHRIS DELACEY! DIDN'T THEY MOLD T.G.C./T.N.L. INTO "AN UGLY PIECE OF ART? !

[Neptune]

Yes I quite agree. I couldn't baer how such a failure it is. Even I enjoyed it, it's like, broke my dreams. Everyone thought it was going to be great.

[Neptune]

Yes I quite agree. I couldn't baer how such a failure it is. Even I enjoyed it, it's like, broke my dreams. Everyone thought it was going to be great.

[hislordship]

You want a n ending? Your prayers have been answered


My personal dream? Seeing an animated version of this with hand-drawn cels or something of the sort, using the same cast as the live-action, only with a director who has the confidence to pull off this kind of feature and a script that shows rather than tells and does not assume the audience to be pants-on-head mentally challenged. Someone once said that His Dark materials would be well suited to Hayao Miazaki's animation style, and while I am dubious over whether that man in articular would be well suited for the job, it does show signs of promise of what could be (quality) rather than what is (sub-par at best).

[Neptune]

I have seen that, and thanks for posting. Other people shall see that if they hadn't yet.

oh and yeah there's a preproduction version just like what you've said. And it was so much better than a the major movie imo

[TowerDragon]

WoW great job with the restored ending. I have seen the preproduction story board that were done by Tucker and even the storyboards got me teary eyed. I truly hope that we get to see it either in the sequel or in a directors cut they cannot simply waste the footage they shot can they?

[Chihiro]

I disliked the film intensely. I love the books with all my heart, they are my favourite and they mean a lot. I was very excited about the film. I knew it'd be no where near as fantastic as the books but I wanted to see how'd they'd done it, as I'd had a short conversation with Mr. Pullman about it sometime in 2006. I didn't expect to be so disappointed by it though.

I sat there, and I felt crushed. They changed the story, they changed the order, and I thought the way the whole film was put togetehr was extremely nonchalent. I felt in the extreme situations (i.e. Lyra and Pan almost being cut apart, Billy losing his Dæmon, Lord Asriel taking Roger etc.), no one seemed as emotional as they seemed in the book. Me and my friends who had read the book left the cinema in a very quiet rage. Saying that, the way they did the Dæmon and Iorek was very impressive, and I think if you haven't read the book and have no intent to it's a very good film. Every part that contained Iorek's presence I felt were great, especially the bear fight. I think Nicole Kidman does an excellent job of Mrs. Coulter, as beforehand I had doubts.

Putting all this into light, I will watch the sequels, again just to see how they do. Maybe I'm a masochist, maybe not, but we'll see.

[aridela]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a HUGE fan of the novels and have read the trilogy 4 times. I've also been avidly following the production of the film since 2004. (Way back when Weitz was originally the director for the 1st time.) So it's greatly pains me to say the following...

To put it bluntly, I was incredibly disappointed. Certain scenes I really enjoyed, like the beginning of the film with Lyra and the other kids running and throwing mud balls. I also loved Lyra's little horror story about the gate and something about a Jordan scholar coat I believe...? However, because of the strange editing and VERY short run time the film as a whole just didn't mesh well with me and didn’t feel nearly as epic as it does in the novel. To give you an example of the editing, Lyra leaves to live with Mrs. Coulter, finds out she's running the Gobblers, and runs away and gets rescued by the Gyptians all within about 15 minutes, perhaps even less! You can really tell there are scenes missing as well. There are quite a few bad transitions. The entire film just felt terribly rushed. Daniel Craig has maybe 7 minutes of screen time and Kidman just slightly more. I'm horrid at writing cohesive reviews so perhaps I'll give a list of some things I enjoyed and things I thought could have been better.

Here are a few things that irked me during the film.

1) Lyra being able to magically read the Alethiometer on her first try. (I know the film had time restraints and you can’t show everything but this seemed silly to me.)

2) The bear fight could have been longer. The actual fight only lasts a few minutes. Also, there is essentially no blood, which is frustrating.

3) The entire Bolvangar sequence (I feel) could have been handled better. They should have added in the Dæmon cage scene. I think this would have really helped drive home how awful intercision is. Also, I wasn't nearly as creeped out by the people running the Experimental Station in the film like I was in the novel.

4) Am I the only one that feels the Bolvangar battle was WAY too easily won? It was over in the blink of an eye and seemed like it was a piece of cake, practically.

5) There is essentially no character development for anyone except Lyra. Everyone is introduced so quickly without much back story at all.

6) The end. Oh, if only the studio had kept in the wonderful last three chapters then the film could have been that much better. When the movie ended the people sitting right next to me (who I am assuming were fans of the novels, like myself) said "Is that all? Isn't Lyra supposed to go see Lord Asriel!?"

Things I did enjoy.

1) Dakota was wonderful. I loved her as Lyra. She was really spunky and has wonderful facial expressions.

2) The general acting over all was very well done.

3) The graphics were quite good.

4) I loved Ragnar getting his jaw ripped off. The added neck break was an added plus! (People gasped in my theatre when this happened.)

5) All scenes involving Iorek and Lee. Sam Elliott is perfection as Lee. Oh, and McKellan really didn't bother me that much in the film. I thought he did a pretty good job, to be honest.

6) The Dæmon deaths, how freaking awesome was that!?

7) I thought the scene where Lyra is walking next to Iorek with the Gyptians and rambling on about how she doesn't like being told what to do and how she can tell that Iorek doesn't like being told what to do was quite cute and funny.

I know I may come off as a bit harsh, but this is probably because I had such huge expectations for the film and have been eagerly anticipating it for years. You can really sense New Line’s meddling when you watch the movie. Even that very small scene where Lyra runs and sets off the fire alarm (which we have seen in previews/trailers isn’t in the film. After she destroys the intercision machine the scene cuts quickly to all the kids escaping.

I’m also not really sure if non-fans are going to understand what’s going on either. Both of my parents were really confused by the end. I had to explain a lot of stuff to them on the drive home. They didn’t understand why the children’s Dæmon were being severed or what Dæmon even truly were, which is sad. Once I told my parents the Magesterium was essentially the Church in Lyra’s world and that they thought Dust was original sin then the reason for the severing made more sense to them. I think this should have been made more explicit in the film because otherwise the Magisterium just looks like another generic baddy with no real motivation.

I wanted to love this movie, I really, REALLY did. But ultimately I was left a little disappointed. I’m going to sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning. Perhaps I just need to try and take the film for what it is but because I know the books are a masterpiece I was sort of hoping the film would be the same.

Was anyone else as disappointed as I was? Am I the only one…?

Well i totally agree with you.And I felt so many things were missing!!!Oh well why didn't they made Nicole Kidman wear a bloody black wig???I mean you have an image in your head about these characters.They can't just blow it up like that!Anyways so long for the movie trilogy for me

[theshley]

The film was alright, but I am glad that I read the book first. I hadnt really heard of it when the film came out and I thought it looked a bit stupid. (sorry.) so I wasnt that inerested in seeing the movie. But once I read the book, of course I had to see it! I wasnt really sure of their choice of Lyra - I thought she was good, but I imagined her to be a bit prettier, not that the girl who played her isnt pretty, I just thought she would be different, a bit softer. I dont really know.
I was bit annoyed that they didnt mention Tony, and used Billy Costa instead, and why did Roger go with Lyra? Is he going to die in the second film? I dont know! As I am such a huge fan of Harry Potter, I was expecting the film to miss out many parts of the story, as Im used to it by now. But they mixed it all up! That annoyed me, I just dont understand why they put the fight with the ice bears at the end.
I thought that Nicole Kidman would play Mrs Coulter really well, but to me, the film Mrs Coulter was very different from the book version. The same with Lord Asriel.
Am I right in thinking that the film was made after all three books were released? Because it seemed to me that the film makers may have not read the others before they put this film together. Hopefully they have plans to combine the elements that they left out, which I feel are important to the story, into the next film.

[Iffy]

I saw the movie when it first came out and was so thrilled with just the fact that it was onscreen that I was sort of starry eyed, meaning: not critical at all.
But I recently watched it again and was pretty appalled at how badly it was done. I think the producers were trying to make a very simple, and non controversial, children's movie. That's not what the book is at all. It is an adult story, as much as it is for children and it is Very complex, both in plot and in ideas.
I'm not a big fan of the Lord of the Rings but the makers of that movie did give it the epic scope it deserved.
The Golden Compass is so pared down and simplified that the magic and power are lost. It's not thoughtful at all. It's just a kid's movie.
I think it was quite easy for certain religious groups to target it here in the US. The makers of the movie should have been prepared for that and been ready to stand behind their creation. Instead, it was simply downplayed and made light of.
The plot was bad and the prep for the movie was very bad. I really wonder how Pullman could have allowed the movie to be so out of his control.
And yes, the visuals were wonderful.

[Dustbin]

I really, really hope for a Director's Cut DVD of TGC. They could restore the ending, put in anything from the book that was filmed but not in the final version, and rearrange the events so that they would be in their correct order again.

Probably not gonna happen though...

[lordofguitar]

Ya i would have to agree the least newlines should do is give us the actual full film if there not going to make the second one

[Mr.D]

I enjoyed the movie. And watched it before reading the book. I loved the whole concept and the world the story encompasses, even though the direction and the editing held the movie back a lot. But I liked the ideas, so I went out and bought the books. I spent the whole weekend reading the trilogy and I totally loved it. So I gotta thank the movie for introducing me to the books. :-)

[Alihandreu]

I was really very upset with the movie. I'm doing my senior project on the trilogy and figured I could get more of an idea of the characters and the scenes and other things to make the story more vivid to me. I was very upset with the movie. They completely rearranged everything! But I have to admit I do like Hester and Lee, both are portrayed very well.

[Bridget Poppyhead]

Just saw the movie today on DVD, and I was really disappointed.
One thing that bothered me was that they changed Iofur's name, so the poor viewers wouldn't confuse him with Iorek. At least they didn't color-code the bears' fur (Iorek = white, because he's the good guy; Iofur/Ragnar = black, because he's evil; she-bears = pink or cyan; etc.)
And I should've known they'd leave out Iorek eating Iofur's heart, because that's not family-friendly.

edit:
Those aren't the only things wrong with the movie in my opinion, they're just examples.

[Michael555]

I think the movie could've been better if it were a little longer, and all the scenes ordered the way they were supposed to (you know, the movie tie-in books? They have the cut ending, although the effects aren't completely finished, it's still worth a look) and the ending of course put back in to play, since it's highly unlikely we're getting "The Subtle Knife" anytime soon.

[Pattybuns]

I liked the movie though I hated it in the end when it didn't finished where it was suppose to in the book. I liked it all in all. =]

[Scary4Ever]

I really like the movie and saw it before I had read the book. After reading the book I was a little disappointed because somethings were cut out of the movie that was in the book, but I still really like the movie and hope the other two movies get made.

[Michael555]

They probably aren't going to get made, unfortunately. There has been absolutely no news!

[Scary4Ever]

They probably aren't going to get made, unfortunately. There has been absolutely no news!

I know there hasn't been any news, but I'm still hopeful it might happen.

[HDMforever]

Same here. While I will admit that I'm on my last legs, I'm not going to give up hope until the end of 2010!