The Golden Compass is one of the many children’s stories that has been made into a movie. This is mostly thanks to the Harry Potter franchise. The difference here is that basically no one has actually read His Dark Materials of which The Golden Compass was the first book in the trilogy. After watching this film, and finding it to be sub par, I was told the movie didn’t do the book justice. To be fair, I got the book on Audible and listened to the first two books. The reason you probably hadn’t heard of His Dark Materials is because it’s shit. I’m a strong believer that the second book has the potential to be the worst movie ever made.
Oddly, the quality of the Golden Compass is top notch. The graphics of the daemons (souls) felt natural. A highlight of the film is watching two Polar Bears in combat. This film was obviously backed with a huge sum of cash. The choice of editing for the film was terrible. Events occurring out of order actually ruin the progression of the story. For instance, why would you gain control of an army and then head into battle solo? The high level of quality keeps the film from being unwatchable, but it’s far from a good story.
It has been brought to my attention that there is a high amount of controversy regarding this films Atheist views. To those of you that believe His Dark Materials is a great trilogy and supports your atheists views; You are stupid. Allow me to explain, Atheism is the belief that God does not exist. Therefor, a book about a man that meets Angles and kills God is not an Atheist book. Anti-religious? Sure. Atheist? No.