The Golden Compass

Ugh. Regular movie theater - at a mall, even, just before Christmas. Obnoxious parking. Previews (yes, the previews) started 10 minutes after the published start time - the movie was 20 minutes late. At least the place is mostly empty, since the film has been out for weeks.

The Golden Compass is supposed to be the atheists' answer to The Chronicles of Narnia, or something like that. Whatever. I don't care for the controversy either way. In this latest film, my biggest complaint was the inability to pick an audience. Half the film sounded overtly condescending, like I was being lectured at. The other half was adult-oriented violence. I couldn't tell if this was intended for kids or not. The plot lines are very formulaic ("prophecy of the witches" and whatnot), and little to nothing unexpected occurred. I suppose I'll keep watching the series - in the same way I'll probably keep watching the Narnia movies - just to keep occupied until the major studios find something worthy of replacing the gap caused by the end of the Lord of the Rings cycle.

The Golden Compass
2007, 113 minutes, directed by Chris Weitz

I created the "adventure" tag for this movie, then discovered that I couldn't go back and apply it to any earlier posts. While some of those movies, like Sunshine, for example, might be describing a part of an adventure, it just didn't have the scope of travel, or of vast locales, that I need to use the term. I'd make the label "epic adventure" but then I couldn't apply it to The Golden Compass, either.