2.5 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed this film, but it wasn’t a great (or even very good) film. The ideas are intriguing, but they aren’t fully explored. I enjoyed the concept of animal spirits (or demons). There are many interesting ideas thrown about, but they’re never well explored. Maybe the remainder of the planned trilogy would clear up the concerns? I personally wanted information on how the vehicles functioned. They all had similar power generation plants that had an appealing visual design, but this wasn’t ever touched on in all likelihood because in their world this tech is “common”.
Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman have throwaway performances for the most part. There is nothing really bad, but also nothing of note that I could find here. Dakota Blue Richards was rather entertaining in the lead role and when paired with the Ian McKellen-voiced armored ice bear and Sam Elliott’s cowboy-ish character, the film really begins to take off. These three are the focus of the story, but the story just accomplishes far too little in this first film to be very good.
I have to admit that the “demons” and the ice bears made this movie for me. It was definitely worth the matinee, but I fear it will not do well in the long run. This will also be a rental when it comes out on HDM (HD media).
Image courtesy of IMP Awards.
Yeah, the movie was “OK,” and the action of the book actually transitioned pretty well to the big screen… they didn’t end up butchering the plot/characters too much, but all of the most interesting things that made the books so great were missing. It’s funny you mention the power generation stuff in the vehicles, this was the only thing that was completely just made up for the movie. I think they just wanted to make something cool-looking. =)
I totally recommend reading the books. I haven’t been this “MUST KEEP READING RIGHT NOW MUST READ NEXT BOOK NOW” addicted to a book for quite some time. The writing is spectacular, Lyra is even cooler than she is in the movie, and the story is addicting.
Good to know. I’ve been considering picking up the books to read through as it seemed like the movie (like the Harry Potter series) may have only scratched the surface. The power plants on the vehicles did look cool
Oh well, guess that will have to be enough on them. I think I now know what my reading list will contain next…
Thanks.