Re: The Movie (for those who have seen it), a.k.a. Fan Reviews
PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:46 am
My main problem with the film is that it removed all the moral ambiguity. I think what really makes the books stand out from trilogies like LOTR and Harry Potter is that no characters are good or evil. By removing the religious angle from the Magesterium the film turns them into cardboard cut out evil bad guys where in the books even though what they were doing was evil, their motivations were understandable. One thing that really annoyed me was Fra Pavel poisoning Lord Asriel rather than the Master. Even though it’s a fairly minor change I think it’s a pretty good example of the dumbing down the books as a whole. I mean Fra Pavel couldn’t have been any more evil if they had given him a monocle and a moustache to twirl.
A lot of people have mentioned they didn’t change that much and it’s true that heaps of the scenes were pretty much direct from the book but by changing the themes and motivations behind them it didn’t feel like HDM.
That said, the acting was excellent. I thought Mrs Coulter and Lee were both perfect and DBR carried the film well. I thought it was an alright film just not a good adaptation. But really I don’t think HDM could ever work as a film.
A lot of people have mentioned they didn’t change that much and it’s true that heaps of the scenes were pretty much direct from the book but by changing the themes and motivations behind them it didn’t feel like HDM.
That said, the acting was excellent. I thought Mrs Coulter and Lee were both perfect and DBR carried the film well. I thought it was an alright film just not a good adaptation. But really I don’t think HDM could ever work as a film.