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The Golden Compass Press Screening Review

May 21, 2007 00:12 by Ryan den Rooijen

Tagged with His Dark Materials Movies 7 comments

The word screening is misleading, especially when you're at Cannes. If you tell people that you'll be attending the Golden Compass press screening people assume that you're going to see the complete movie. Just to clarify, we only saw 10 minutes of material, essentially a selection of scenes which are already completed to such an extent that New Line dares place them before the critics. By no means does this mean that the scenes are all done. The light effects on the CGI models for one are incomplete, and there is a distinct lack of fancy explosions for the time being.

Still, after watching the screening I have to honestly admit that I am impressed. Sceptics will be eager to point that screening only a selection of scenes will allow the studio to select only their best scenes, and will still mean nothing when questioning the integrity of the storyline as a whole. However, considering the dedication that Chris Weitz has shown, Pullman's satisfaction regarding the script, and the impressions we got from previous events the integrity is not really questionable.

The potential pitfall for this movie is the acting. New Line took on a great cast from a myriad of different backgrounds — the protagonist distinctly lacking any background — and they had to hope that it would work out. In movies, especially such story driven ones as His Dark Materials it is very important that the characters are convincing. Yes, most of the cast consists of proven actors, but that is no guarantee that they will be able to succesfully portray the characters exactly "like they should." There has to be chemistry between the different players. When it comes to this aspect the screening really allayed any possible fears.

From the scene where Mrs. Coulter and Lyra fight over the alethiometer, to the scene where Lord Asriel announces that he is going to the source of Dust where there is no Magisterium — Heresy! In the word(s) of Fra Pavel — the acting is perfect and convincing.

His Dark Materials is a fantasy trilogy, but it is not a fantasy built up out of epic battles and magnificent confrontations. It is a story about free will, love, friendship. In the words of Chris Weitz: "It's about things that matter."

What we saw today has only strengthened my belief that the things that matter have been retained. Who cares if this means that Fra Pavel is already present in the retiring room when Asriel gives his "I'm off to find Dust" speech. The story is still intact.

Such footholds are also necessary. Remember, in the books we are well into The Subtle Knife before the main storyline and the Magisterium's role is elucidated. By introducing Fra Pavel at an earlier stage it is possible for people to see The Golden Compass alone and to have a good clear idea of what's going on.

Perhaps some of you would expect an in-depth review of the visuals and the CGI, but there really is no point. Information about the set and costume can be found in our set visit reports; as for CGI, 500 of the industry's finest minds are working on that, so I have no doubt that the final product will look stunning. Keep in mind, movies these days do not fail due to bad CGI, they fail due to bad scripts and bad acting.

Concluding, I think it can be said that this screening really confirmed our earlier expectations. The script changes really seem to work well so far, and the rest of the movie is moving along smoothly as well. Naturally we cannot yet vouch for the final product, but I would guess that today's material really raised general expections.

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