All that controversy

This evening I saw the new movie The Golden Compass. As I was watching TV a few days ago I saw something about pre-release screenings in my area. Sure enough, one of the screenings was at the movie theater only a few miles from where I live. After all the brewing controversy over the books (which I haven't read), I was very curious. Plus, my brother-in-law worked on the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed it... it was much darker than I had expected, and had some surprisingly frightening parts. As for the controversy bit, as far as I could tell, the author seemed to be arguing against the 17th Century Roman Catholic church. Yaay, Galileo!

Hmm... I don't want to give anything away, since the movie doesn't officially come out until next week. But I will say that it ends with a major cliffhanger. I kept thinking, "It's gotta be ending soon, but there seems to be a lot of plot left. How will they wrap it up?" And then it ended... "Oh, that's how. A sequel."

After the movie I waited around to see my brother-in-law's name in the credits. The "Rhythm & Hues" section started, and then the picture cut out... The sound was still working, but you couldn't see any more of the credits. Nice. Sorry, Rob, I still don't know if you REALLY worked on the movie... :)

Anyway, in closing, the movie is definitely not one for young kids. The plot is creative and innovative, and visually, the movie is great. It's just a tad scary for wee lads and lassies. For grownups, though, I'd definitely recommend it.