Dir & Writ: Chris Weitz
Based on book by Philip Pullman
- Dakota Blue Richards … Lyra Belacqua
- Nicole Kidman … Marisa Coulter
- Daniel Craig … Lord Asriel
- Freddie Highmore … Pantalaimon (voice)
- Ian McKellen … Iorek Byrnison (voice)
- Eva Green … Serafina Pekkala
- Sam Elliott … Lee Scoresby
I read, and really enjoyed, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials a while back, so I was really looking forward to this film, the first of three. Unfortunately it just isn’t very good. It should be. The story is a wonderful one, Kidman and Craig are fantastic, although Craig isn’t really on screen for all that long, and Dakota Blue Richards is wonderful as Lyra. Some of the other kids aren’t too great, but we’ll let them away. The special effects are, for the most part, superb. The polar bears in particular are fantastic.
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Tags:
5 Stars,
action,
badly written,
based on book,
Chris Weitz,
Dakota Blue Richards,
Daniel Craig,
disappointing,
Eva Green,
Freddie Highmore,
His Dark Materials,
Ian McKellen,
Lyra,
Nicole Kidman,
polar bears,
R12A,
rushed,
Sam Elliott,
series,
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show don't tell,
special effects,
The Golden Compass
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Alice Borchardt
ISBN: 0006483879 DDC: 813.54
Found this to be a very disappointing read. I read the previous two in this series: The Silver Wolf and The Night of the Wolf and while neither of them are spectacularly great novels they were both interesting, well-written stories.
Despite being set in the same world, and dealing with many of the same characters this novel feels half-hearted. As though Borchardt started out with the idea of writing it, but didn’t really put any effort into actually developing the story or the characters. They react and emote, but in sudden outbursts that seem to come from nowhere, and the entire story seems confused and badly laid out. There is a brief flashback that is badly executed and until I had finished reading it I wasn’t actually sure when it had occurred at all.
There is also the fact that there is a main character who never seems to get a name, instead is always described as “The Saxon”.
Overall I just found this lacking in any commitment, as though Borchardt wasn’t that interested in it.
Tags:
2 Stars,
813.54,
Alice Borchardt,
badly written,
Bored Now!,
disappointing,
series,
The Wolf King
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