Viewed in
2007
Premise
Based on the book series, 'His Dark Materials', in which a little girl begins an epic journey involving talking creatures and fighting polar bears.
Who should watch
Fans of the book? Those who like expensive, cgi-laden fantasy epics.
Thoughts
I have not read the books, so I have no idea how the movie compared.
The movie had some interesting ideas. I liked the gimmick that in this universe, a person's soul exists as free-will, accompanying animal. One cannot live without the other. Due to this gimmick, there was tons of very cool special effects of all sorts of different, talking creatures running amok throughout the movie.
In yet another example that everything in Hollywood comes in two's, this movie starred an excellent young actress named Dakota. She was a strong presence. Her fellow child actors were surprisingly bad, as they appeared to be pretending too hard to be kids.
Most of the characters were boring, except for the disgraced, fighting Polar Bear, voiced by Sir Ian McKellan. The movie kicked into high gear (from boring to slightly interesting) when he finally appeared.
I think the problem was in the story and execution. I never understood what was happening on screen, especially all the political stuff. Yes, all the media buzz already warned me that there were some anti-Church themes embedded in the story, but they were not presented clearly enough in the movie even make a stink about.
Granted that this was supposed to be a series, so not everything had to be explained. So, my opinions about my plot confusion may be moot later on.
What I would change
More fighting polar bear stuff!
