Follow the Alethiometer

The controversial The Golden Compass opened last Friday to a $26 million box office, and there I was (as I had already warned you), ready to see it and report back to you, guys. I thought the movie was going to be disappointing because I had just read the novel, and everybody knows the books are usually better than the films. Also, TGC had scored a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, so I was wary, to say the least. But the truth is that I enjoyed it. It wasn't great, but I thought it was quite a faithful adaptation of the source material, with neat effects, cool eye candy, and the ever gorgeous Nicole Kidman.

The "controversial" issues the book presents are somewhat diluted and toned down in the movie, something I had already heard director Chris Weitz say, so that didn't surprise me. The movie closely follows the story in the book, and other than chronologically changing a couple of events and altering the actions of a couple of characters, it's basically the same. There's fantasy, there's cool creatures, there's villains, and there's a kid on a quest to save the world. It's not great (and certainly not as compelling as the book), but it's entertaining.

There were two things I didn't like, though: the very beginning and the very end. Right at the beginning we get a narrated introduction to the world we're about to experience… only to have each and every single thing mentioned there shown to us later in the film. One of the basic rules of storytelling is "don't tell if you can show". And they do show later, so why did they tell me first? And then, at the very end, the movie is over before the book is! When I was watching the movie, I thought "Man, this looks like this could be the final scene in the movie. If I hadn't read the book and knew there's one more scene coming, I would think this is indeed the end". And then the movie was over, and that last scene in the book, a scene that gives closure to part of the story and sets up the stage for the second book was nowhere to be found. I was puzzled, since it made no sense not to have the final scene, because it's a very effective cliffhanger that makes you gasp and leaves you in shock. Well, when I got back home I read that they did shoot that last scene, but it didn't test well with audiences, so they just removed it. However, the director says he hopes he can have it at the very beginning of the second movie (if this first one does well enough to grant a sequel, that is). Does he think audiences will like it better at the beginning of a film instead of at the end? Maybe so. Will it be included on the DVD as an alternate ending? Perhaps. I still don't think it was a wise decision, because the movie now just stops instead of ending. But what do I know?

Anyway, I would recommend reading the book instead of seeing the movie, but if you want to know what the story is about but only want to spend a couple of hours finding out, then by all means go see the movie. Or read the book and then go see the movie. By the time they make a movie out of The Subtle Knife, you will have read the whole trilogy!