I was so extremely excited for this movie, I had just read the books and truly could not wait to see how it translated to the screen having such a vivid and vibrant plot. My excitement was short lived however when this butchered movie began to roll. The largest flaw was that of character development. The whole beginning of the book truly creates Lyras character and her supporting characters such as Roger, Lord Asriel, Master of Jordan, and so forth; this instead was replaced with a few minutes of monologue, and if you happened to sneeze you would miss the explanation of daemons (which is integral to the plot) they could have included the catacomb exploration to explain that but alas they clipped that as well. And what about Lord Asriels visit, why change who tried to poison him? and what happened to the trepanned head of Stanislaus Grumman? This was a powerful scene in the book, but it became a 2 minute meeting on screen. Also, I don't know about you but I pictured Lord Asriel as this big powerful looking man that commanded a room, not quite Daniel Craig.
So she leaves with Mrs. Coulter and again a rushed relationship which never develops as it does in the book. No visit to the Royal Artic Institute, no fitting for arctic clothing, where did it all go; and then the escape, which was perfect in the book, became a very short scene that was completely different.
The Gyptians. This was a HUGE part of the book, especially her relationships with them, all of it was axed. Once she arrives at the Gyptian city there is a ton of character development between Lyra and John Faa, Farder Coram, Ma Costa; none of this was included, in fact what took weeks in the book was dwindled down to a short conversation immediately upon Lyras arrival. What happened to finding out that Ma Costa nursed her as a child? or finding out from John Faa that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter were her parents, and why she ended up at Jordan College? We leave this part in the movie not knowing why the Gyptians want to help, why they agree to take her along, no town vote or attack plan, in the book she is taken under Farder Corams wing for weeks.
From here it is a rush job to a cut off ending. Her relationship with Iorek is cut, she all of a sudden has a strong relationship with him? The boy who was "cut" was not Billy Costa, why change that, and the boy ends up dying. The Samoyans bring her to Bolvangar and all the events leading to her escape were cut out. The movie brings us to the Ice Bears directly and although things were cut the bear fight was done pretty well, but there was no build up so it was not as intense as it should have been, no pinnacle. Even Ioreks background was changed, he was outcast for killing another bear. The final fight scene after the children's escape was also anticlimactic due to the lack of build up and tension, you almost didn't care.
Now I understand they were making way for the next movie, but cutting out the entire ending??? The movie left you with nothing resolved, Lord Asriel was in it for 2 minutes. I only hope Philip Pullman does not sell his soul on "The Subtle Knife" because he was royally abused on this one.
So she leaves with Mrs. Coulter and again a rushed relationship which never develops as it does in the book. No visit to the Royal Artic Institute, no fitting for arctic clothing, where did it all go; and then the escape, which was perfect in the book, became a very short scene that was completely different.
The Gyptians. This was a HUGE part of the book, especially her relationships with them, all of it was axed. Once she arrives at the Gyptian city there is a ton of character development between Lyra and John Faa, Farder Coram, Ma Costa; none of this was included, in fact what took weeks in the book was dwindled down to a short conversation immediately upon Lyras arrival. What happened to finding out that Ma Costa nursed her as a child? or finding out from John Faa that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter were her parents, and why she ended up at Jordan College? We leave this part in the movie not knowing why the Gyptians want to help, why they agree to take her along, no town vote or attack plan, in the book she is taken under Farder Corams wing for weeks.
From here it is a rush job to a cut off ending. Her relationship with Iorek is cut, she all of a sudden has a strong relationship with him? The boy who was "cut" was not Billy Costa, why change that, and the boy ends up dying. The Samoyans bring her to Bolvangar and all the events leading to her escape were cut out. The movie brings us to the Ice Bears directly and although things were cut the bear fight was done pretty well, but there was no build up so it was not as intense as it should have been, no pinnacle. Even Ioreks background was changed, he was outcast for killing another bear. The final fight scene after the children's escape was also anticlimactic due to the lack of build up and tension, you almost didn't care.
Now I understand they were making way for the next movie, but cutting out the entire ending??? The movie left you with nothing resolved, Lord Asriel was in it for 2 minutes. I only hope Philip Pullman does not sell his soul on "The Subtle Knife" because he was royally abused on this one.