If I’m offended, it’s not because of any religious sensibilities, it’s because of the violence they did to the book. Which wasn’t even that good.
WaPo's Stephen Hunter concurs:
Nothing wrong with "The Golden Compass" that some of Sister Mary Ignatius's good Catholic discipline wouldn't clear up. She should rap the movie across its fierce little knuckles for violations not against church protocol but against storytellers' dogma: too many characters too fast; too much emphasis on design and effects and not enough on emotion; too many hoary Brit old pros.As to the religious content, not to worry:
The intensity of Pullman's hatred for things religious, particularly bureaucracies housed in ornate buildings where single men mincingly express their fear and disgust for the little people, will be missed by most of the kids; most adults will find it both obvious and boring.Like our nin, however, he thinks Nicole Kidman looks splendid:
I could watch Nicole Kidman doing that voodoo that she does so well all night long -- it does something to me -- but the rest seems a bit much.Movie not doing well in the WaPo reader comments section, either. Early word is it's going to bomb. And they're going to blame the Christian boycott. Which is fine (although I'd be willing to bet they owe half their box office to kids determined to cheese off angry parents), but is there one? I've read that the Catholic League called for one, but my inbox hasn't been flooded with anti-Golden Compass material as it was with Da Vinci Code stuff. All around, the importance of His Dark Materials seems overstated to me. It's supposed to be a life-changing work, but I'd never heard of it until I saw a preview for the movie, and I travel in "educator" circles. ninme, a generation younger and suitably hip, reports the same. Seems like a "niche" book, now accompanied by a bad movie, perhaps artificially propped up by protest.
