The Golden Compass

This is the movie we have been waiting for all year and the Daughter and I were very excited to finally get to see it last night. I loved the book The Golden Compass, and of course one worries that one's favorite books will be destroyed in movies, but I never can help going to see them anyway. This one wasn't destroyed. It wasn't nearly as good as the book, of course, but it was pretty good for a movie. We enjoyed it, although the Daughter was a bit put out by where it ended.

The controversy first:

I have mainly one thing to say to the posters-of-dire-internet-warnings: please. The early ending was doubtless in deference to those, leaving it open as to whether or not other movies are made... I'm guessing not, after all the fluff. Also, in deference to the offended, the Church was never mentioned... just the Magisterium. One would have to know what the word "heresy" means to get one's hackles up even a little and, well... let's be honest about most people's vocabularies, shall we? It was not offensive. Really.

The bad:

A bit heavy-handed with the exposition and deus ex machina plot devices to make everything fit, most especially where the witch and Lee Scoresby were concerned. Mrs. Coulter got a bit too mushy at one point, but not by too much. There is only so much computer animation that feels okay with me.

The skinny:

Mainly, it was as good as I think a movie could make it. Lyra is a fierce little girl, growing up under the benevolent neglect of the scholars of Jordan College in an another world's Oxford. Dark forces are at work, hurting children and threatening the order of her world. Lyra is in possession of a golden compass, an alethiometer, which tells the truth and which only she can read. Lyra must find out what's going on, try to rescue her friend Roger and save her world. It ends before things get dodgy, which was fine with me but which upset the Daughter. All in all, it could never come close to the book, but it was good.

Enchanted

The Daughter and I saw a preview for Enchanted when we saw Nancy Drew last summer and have been looking forward to it ever since. We finally saw it on Saturday and were not disappointed. In the movie, Giselle, a sweet cartoon of a girl, finds her true-love prince in the land of Andalasia but is sent into our world's New York City by his wicked stepmother who does not want him to marry and ascend to the throne. Giselle has some trouble dealing with our reality. A practical man and his little girl find her and the man tries to help her navigate her new circumstances, somewhat reluctantly. Giselle's handsome prince, who is way-full-of-himself but kind of sweet, and her chipmunk friend, come after her, accompanied by a servant who the clueless prince doesn't realize is in league with the wicked queen. Actually, he doesn't even know that his stepmother is the villian. Eventually, after many mishaps, the prince finds Giselle...and she's somewhat less interested in him than she previously was. After a battle between Good and Evil and references to most Disney classic fairytale movies, Giselle ends up with her New Yorker and his sweet little girl and the prince goes back to cartoon-land with the New Yorker's former girlfriend.

Strangely enough, the movie was neither stupid nor too-caustic. It was actually good. We enjoyed it. I must, however, admit that my favorite part was when the prince was knocking on doors in an apartment building he had reason to believe Giselle was in and a tired-looking woman with several little kids opened the door, looked at him, and said You're too late.