12 Responses so far

1. 1. Lori on Dec 8th, 2007 at 12:24 am

   Read all three books recently and liked them a lot. I’m looking forward to the movie having heard good things from fans of the books.

2. 2. Edward Willett on Dec 8th, 2007 at 1:20 am

   I saw it tonight and enjoyed it very much, although I thought it ended rather abruptly–and yes, I read the books, so I know this is just the beginning of the story. Had I not read the books, though, I would have been left dissatisfied, I think.

   Although, come to think of it, I was left with something of the same feeling of, “How long do I have to wait for the next one?” that I felt after finishing the first book. So maybe those unfamiliar with the books will feel the same way about the next movie.

   Because…what you said about armored bears in single combat. That scene was enough to get a thumbs-up from me for the whole movie!

3. 3. Mary Robinette Kowal on Dec 8th, 2007 at 2:01 am

   I thought it was gorgeous, but I was really unhappy with the pacing. I’d read the books; my husband hadn’t and he also thought the pacing was bizarre. Also, thought the CG lived just on the wrong side of the Uncanny Valley for me.

   That said, I thought the cast did a wonderful job. The production and costume design is gorgeous and I’ll go see the next film. I’ll just go in with lower expectations.

4. 4. Josh Smith on Dec 8th, 2007 at 8:19 am

   CNN just ran a story about this in which they point out that the Catholic church is railing against these books. Sigh…

   The kicker, they tell the ending of the series of books in normal conversation. Haven’t they heard of Spoiler alert?

   I think I’ll have to check these out.

5. 5. Wyman Cooke on Dec 8th, 2007 at 12:22 pm

   The Catholic Church and the Turbo Christians, to borrow Neal Boortz’s name for Christian extremists, have little to fear from the movie. The casual viewer would have a hard time learning that The Magisterium is an alternate world version of the Catholic Church. The word Church is not used at all in movie.

   I’ve got to say I came away from the movie without the sense of wonder I got from the books. Despite the cast and the fx, I had a sense of something missing.

6. 6. Steve Buchheit on Dec 8th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

   The first book and movie are only the set up (and there are strange parallels to how the Catholic League and other organizations are reacting to the movie and hwo the Church is portrayed in the books), it’s the next two books (and movies) where things get really going (trying not to use spoilers), such as the final battle scene and what the children witness/do there. When *that* is made into a movie, then the CL will howl with derision.

7. 7. JIm Hall on Dec 8th, 2007 at 4:09 pm

   I enjoyed the movie but I was a bit put off by the ending. I have never read the books, and I will say now that I have seen the movie, I think I will pick them up.

8. 8. Mark Terry on Dec 8th, 2007 at 10:35 pm

   Well, we went to see the movie tonight. I think the kids liked it reasonably well, although neither was saying, “We want it when it comes out on video” which is often the real test of a film’s appeal.

   My take it–and no, haven’t read the books–was the pacing was all fucked up. I was pretty much bored by everything except the scenery until Sam Elliott showed up, and even then the action scenes seem to lack real heat, for whatever reason–they seem rather episodic, but it may have more to do with never really connecting with any of the characters.

   Yeah, the polar bear fight scene was kind of cool, although it too seemed to lack much real danger or ferocity (but was loud, I can say that for it).

   As for the ending, just before it came to an end I remembered pulling out my cell phone to check the time, because I was thinking, “Oh, man, they’re going to have to rescue Daniel Craig and that’ll probably take another hour; this movie seems to go on forever.”

   So that was my gut reaction to it. I wanted to like it better than I did, and I’m wondering if the books are good. Pete says the writing’s beautiful.

9. 9. Wyman Cooke on Dec 8th, 2007 at 11:44 pm

   You’ve hit the nail on the head. Setting up the world on screen may have caused problems, But they shouldn’t have been enough to bring down this movie. Take The Matrix, for example; we get a whole world thrown at us without a feeling of “As you know, Bob”. Here, the witch shows up on the gypsies ship and none of the watch says anything? Not even an “Excuse me, miss, what are you doing here?”

10. 10. Jeremy on Dec 9th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    Guess I should probably read the book before going to see it. I heard not-so-great things about the adaptation, like it’s a bunch of random scenes from the book that don’t go a long way towards telling the story.

11. 11. Fred Kiesche on Dec 10th, 2007 at 6:27 am

    The Catholic Church is “against” the movie? That’s funny, I must have missed the memo. I’m Catholic, and I have nothing against the movie (nor did I have anything against “The Da Vinci Code”. And “The Last Temptation of Christ” is one of my favorite movies). I can’t say that I’ve met anybody else in my parish who is “against” the movie.

    Some wingnuts might be against the movie (and funny thing about that…I’ve read some quotes from wingnuts from the other end of things are against the movie because it hasn’t gone far enough in taking a stand against religion). But that doesn’t mean the Catholic Church is against it. Or all Catholics.

    As for the books…just tried reading them again. And stopped…again. I just find them boring. Go figure.

12. 12. Mary Fitz... on Dec 12th, 2007 at 12:22 pm

    I read the first two books, and thought they were Ok but not great. I thought the sense of wonder really suffered from Pullman’s thumping on his personal belief system especially in the second book, which I could hardly finish since I thought the preaching got in the way of the plot.

    So, I had no idea what to expect from the movie. I loved it. I was mesmerized by the whole thing. It is lush and beautiful to look at and the acting is good. I didn’t have any problem with the pace.

    About the whole anti-religion thing, Pullman has issues and that just fine. I think if he didn’t do interviews saying he wanted to destroy children’s belief in religion most people wouldn’t have issues with the books, because while they are preachy they do ask the reader to question some things that should be questioned. I’m Catholic, but I know the church isn’t perfect so pointing that out does not upset me. I thought the Magisterium felt more like Neo Con Republicans in the movie than the RC Church, at least the RC I’m familiar with in 21st century America.