“My books are about killing God.”
Philip Pullman, quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald on Dec. 13, 2003.
But that was then and this now. If there is a story about killing God in the Golden Compass movie it is so well hidden I might have to play the movie backwards to hear it.
Where I Am Legend had some of the most annoying special effects in recent history, The Golden Compass is eye-popping and dazzling. True there are more than a few cartoony moments with the little daemons that follow everyone around, but that fits well with the story. The cityscapes are much like the ones in the last Star Wars films, only the clock has been set back to 1890 or so. The world of Golden Compass is one where the Industrial Revolution never happened, at least not with oil. There are machines that seem to run on some blue magic, which does not appear to harm the environment, as the skies are always clear as a bell.
The Golden Compass is the story of a poor little orphan girl who discovers she is really very special and has secret powers no one else possesses. So far it is just like every other story with a small child as the hero, clearly no normal child could talk a Polar bear into pledging his loyalty her, let alone read the mysterious and beautiful Golden Compass.
There are escapes, chases, rescues, battles both grand and small, and no ending. They did tell you this was a Trilogy of books didn’t they?
I might have to read the books now and see what all this killing God stuff is about. The Golden Compass is a beautiful movie on all levels, from vast cities to barren snowfields, from costumes to fireplaces, all the details are amazing. But the story left me a bit wanting.
The basic elements are 1) everyone has a daemon-a magical animal that is always near by, 2) children’s daemons are flexible and change animal form at will, whereas an adults daemon remains the same forever, 3) the bad guys want to separate children from their daemons-I’m afraid I never figured out why exactly.
When viewed as any other blockbuster movie, it has all the right elements. But like the last Harry Potter movie, the Golden Compass has too much gee whiz and too little how come. Nothing much is explained, but there is so much action that you don’t notice right away.
A few questions about in the Golden Compass.
Why do some of the people have guns, while others use bows and arrows?
How come the Bad Guys don’t want anyone to know about Dust, but at the same time a daemon turns into Dust when it’s person dies? Wouldn’t everyone notice this?
Are the only animals in the world of the Golden Compass daemons and talking polar bears?
And just one for the athetist Philip Pullman-Don’t you need to believe there is a God to want to kill God?
The Golden Compass Website reminds me of The Lord of The Rings it’s color scheme and music, nice. I took a twenty question test to find out that my Daemon is a female crow named Eumelia. Gotta love silly stuff like that.
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