The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

[GOLLUM]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Oh, I agree...that's why I said 30-40 minutes more, not as long as the LotR films.
I find that 2½ hours is just about the longest film I can be bothered to watch these days...plus there's no intervals any more, so you've the choice of dashing to the loo and missing something, or suffering for the last 30 minutes or so....

AH...what one does in the name of art hey?...

 

[iansales]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

There's a simple answer to that: don't buy a bucket of Coke to take into the cinema

 

[GOLLUM]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Or hire a protable loo, a very small one perhaps...

 

[Joel007]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Always buy the smallest possible drink, given that the "small" cokes these days used to be the large cokes a few years back.

 

[Cayal]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

I was disappointed in the book, but in all fairness I wouldn't call it rubbish, and it did win the Carnegie Medal besides being something of an international bestseller, and being continuously in print for the last ten years, so I wouldn't call it obscure either.

Winning awards doesn't make it well known.

Be like me naming best international movie or whatever. Wouldn't have the slightest idea.
I picked up a book that won Best Australian Horror voted by the ABC (something like that). I'd never heard of it before I saw it on the shelf.

Was a good book actually. Pilo Family Circus for anyone interested.

 

[iansales]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Depends on your definition of "well known". If you mean, winning an award doesn't mean you've heard of it, then true enough. But if it means other people have heard of it...

 

[Thadlerian]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

I think a lot of that is due to the shortness of the film - at 113 minutes, it runs a good hour shorter than, say, each part of the LotR films.

An extra 30-40 minutes wouldn't have hurt it - it would still have been a watchable length, and it could have been fleshed out a bit, so to speak.

My opinion is that the problems with this movie could have been solved without lenghtening it much. I'm thinking of the weak characterizations of Lord Asriel and Pantalaimon among others, but also the way they have the prophecy fuel the whole plot. Oh, and removing any reference to Christianity.

Then of course there is the issue with the ending, but I believe they could have cut a lot of stuff too, for instance the rendered "alethiometer explanation" scenes (and instead had Lyra say how she read it). You might have to lengthen it a bit, though. It's always nicer with a longer movie
(Except, perhaps, in the case of Return of the King )

A shame really as I have always believed that Dark Materials is far superior to HP.

Amen to that

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Winning awards doesn't make it well known.

The Carnegie would definitely bring it to the attention of librarians and schoolteachers, but on that point I was mainly addressing your characterization of the book as rubbish.

The fact that it had enviable sales all over the English-speaking world when it first came out and never went OP since does mean that it's well-known.

However, it's been largely marketed as YA. So unless you make a habit of visiting the children's section of bookstores, are a schoolteacher, a children's librarian, or otherwise have reason to be knowledgable about books for younger readers it's quite possible for a book of that sort to make an international splash and for you not to hear of it.

Gollum, the movie wasn't exactly hyped over here, but there was an extensive campaign via the bookstores. Lots and lots of space devoted to the books, and to books about the books, right up front, too, besides the children's section.

As for the movie not being prom

 

[iansales]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

The last time I looked in Waterstone's, there were six editions of The Golden Compass on sale. And a couple of dozen copies of each edition.

 

[Mary Hoffman]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Even at the length it was, I escaped tp the loo during the armourede bear duel - couldn't "bear" to see even CGI polars fighting to the death.

I agree with Teresa that all three books are VERY well known. The Amber Spyglass - in my view a very weak conclusion to His Dark Materials - won not only the British Whitbread award for children's books but the overal Whitbread Award, beating the winners in the novel, first novel, poetry and biography categories. Northern |Lights (which is how we Brits know the book called The Golden Compass in the US) this summer won the "Carnegie of Carnegies" i.e. the best winner of the Carnefgie Medal in 70 years!

It is not elegant for one writer to criticise another in this forum and Philip P. is a friend, but I am a little surprised at the reverence these books inspire. I was sent the first one in typescript (boy, do I wish I had held on to that!) and thought it OK but nothing special. I certainly would not call it rubbish, though!

I've written a long review of the movie for my online magazine, Armadillo and wil post a link here as soon as it goes live.

Mary

 

[Thadlerian]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

In Norway, they're now selling a His Dark Materials omnibus, with the title The Golden Compass.

Have they got that far in other countries as well?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Yes, they've got an omnibus edition here, plus several editions of the books, including two boxed sets. Some of this, of course, in anticipation of the movie.

Still, a little research turns up the information that the trilogy has sold around 15 million copies worldwide. You would think with that number of readers for the books, the movie would have generated a bigger box office.

And it's not like the first weekend was a flop, it was just that it didn't match up with the very high expectations. It seems like the fact that it's fading so fast must have more to do with the movie itself than with any pre-publicity (good or bad) relative to the book.

I thought the costumes and the sets and the effects and everything to do with the art direction and the cinematography were splendid. I'd see it again (on video) for that reason alone.

 

[Thadlerian]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

But what about HDM collections sold as The Golden Compass?

I mean, how are they going to sell The Subtle Knife if my nightmares come true and they insist on adapting that one too?

 

[Pyan]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

I imagine they'll do what they're doing with Narnia, Thad...a series title,(The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia,) with the individual book name as a subtitle (The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass - the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian)
I think that the His Dark Materials line will be quietly dropped, especially with the toning down of the anti-organised-religion element of the work.

 

[The_Warrior]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Might be, and it seems like it. I don't know for sure yet.

I could put my views for the movie on here, but most of them have already been said by diffrent users.

 

[Majimaune]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Oh, I agree...that's why I said 30-40 minutes more, not as long as the LotR films.
I find that 2½ hours is just about the longest film I can be bothered to watch these days...plus there's no intervals any more, so you've the choice of dashing to the loo and missing something, or suffering for the last 30 minutes or so....

Thats cause you run out of food and stuff by that time

Well still haven't seen it, hopefully sometime soon though, when me and my friends can all do it. Really shouldn't try to get so many people to go. Its too hard.

 

[GOLLUM]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

Gollum, the movie wasn't exactly hyped over here, but there was an extensive campaign via the bookstores. Lots and lots of space devoted to the books, and to books about the books, right up front, too, besides the children's section.

Similar story here for the books but just hasn't translated all that well into the film. I agree the production values were great. As I said before what they covered was very good. I just couldn't help feeling that the screenplay left a hollow/unsatisfied feeling for me. I remember when LOTR came out and thinking WOW this Peter Jackson did a first rate job at bringing to life the books and conveying their gravitas. So much so that anyone who had not read the books would have a very accurate sense of what they would have to offer to a reader.

 

[Cayal]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

The Carnegie would definitely bring it to the attention of librarians and schoolteachers, but on that point I was mainly addressing your characterization of the book as rubbish.

I didn't like the book. Can't deny me my opinion can you?

 

[Majimaune]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

I didn't like the book. Can't deny me my opinion can you?

I'm sure we could try.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

re: The Golden Compass (2007)

I didn't like the book. Can't deny me my opinion can you?

I would never dispute someone liking or not liking a book. Surely we all know best what we like and don't like.

But it's a long way from saying "I didn't like it" to pronouncing something is rubbish. Or at least it is for me. You may recall that I wasn't in love with the book either, but I try to keep enough perspective to acknowledge that a book can fail to gratify my personal tastes and still retain some literary merit.