The Golden Compass - Movie

I googled The Golden Compass back in Dec07, but had forgotten all the controversy about it.

It was on free HBO, so I recorded it and watched it later.
(The only other thing worth mentioning on HBO was Jumper which was worth a watch. Maybe the book by Steven Gould would be better?)

I thought The Golden Compass was a good fantasy adventure.
The movie is rated PG13 and the books are teen section, so not for the very young, I suppose.

I loved the bear (Iorek).
I don't think Lyra ever rode him with his armor on as the poster ads show.

The movie was stripped of the antigod/antireligious aspects that were in the books, evidently.
I didn't think the movie was religious.
It was fantasy.
I thought the daemon stuff was weird/odd.
The dust idea was interesting and I probably liked that the best of all ideas in the movie.

From googling the topic now, it doesn't sound like there will be a movie sequel, which is disappointing because The Golden Compass ended abruptly with things still unfinished.

I might checkout/read the books, just so I can find out for myself what the story says about the whole god/religion thing.

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is made up of three books:
1. Northern Lights (The Golden Compass)
2. The Subtle Knife
3. The Amber Spy Glass

I think the author is coming out with a new book that explores the dust idea further.
It's called "The Book of Dust."

Trivia:
Daniel Craig ( James Bond in Quantum of Solace 2008) is Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass 2007.
And Eva Green (Vesper Lynd in Quantum of Solace) is Serafina Pekkala in The Golden Compass.

LINKS:

There is a His Dark Materials Fansite Discussion Forum,
and an
Interesting Article
via
Ebert.

Lots at YouTube,
Some currently available:
Trailer
Defining Daemons
Intro (daemons, dust, compass, etc.)
Iorek Intro (bear)