Surprisingly good

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2005)

I was hoping that this would be good but somewhat dubious about it, but when i saw it i was relieved to discover that it actually was quite good. It stuck quite closely to the book, and when it deviated it did so in appropriate ways - none of the deviations seemed tacked on. I was impressed by the presentation of a particular icon of popular culture, who was presented in a way that harked back to how he was portrayed before commercialism got hold of him, and i wished he could become the new standard. The religious aspects of the film were neither under- nor overstated, and it worked fine on the level of an adventure film and as an allegory. I was very emotionally involved, partly because of having read the books as a child until they fell to bits, and i was actually moved to tears once. It was also so much better than the BBC TV version, and in that i'm talking about acting rather than special effects or scenery. However, the special effects did make me think that when they finally do 'His Dark Materials' in cinematic form, it will be able to do justice to those books too.
If they do decide to do the other books, i would certainly go to see them as well, and they would have the advantage of having good writing to back it up.
The only problem was that the climax of the film was too drawn out.
I'm amazed Disney could do a children's film that was actually good.