I read today Laura Miller's article on The Golden Compass. while it is true that the movie starring Nicole Kidman does have a ring of anti-religion the holy scriptures has the greatest message for the eventual destruction of all religion. In Revelation chapter 18 it for tells that soon now the governments will organize under the United Nations and completely destroy religion. Already we see great strides taking place like never before to control religous activitys around the world. Many Governments are wary of the influence of

orgainzed religion poses to there governments. For example many governments see religion as a threat to there national interests as of 2004 the then president of France,imposed that no more religious garb could be worn in public. The government of France felt they were beginning to lose there national identity.

Believe me what we see is not fiction it is as real as it gets. the days of organized religion as we know are numbered. The golden compass is fantasy written by it author. the bible too. is written by its author. "Jehovah" as Psalms 146:3,4. 3 Do not put YOUR trust in nobles, Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.

4 His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground;

In that day his thoughts do perish.

I read this article and went and saw the movie today anyway. I've read the books and really enjoyed them - vivid characters, lush detail, etc. The movie chops up the story and rearranges it. Things are altered in a serious way. Now I understand its tough to adapt a great book into a movie - not enough time for detail and some parts of the story will get cut. But some of the changes in the movie seem arbitrary and really damage the story. The movie is not even coherent for all these alterations. Its a jumbled, flat mess. It was nice to see the visuals. Other than that, read the books. Read the books again. The movie is terrible!

The army of bears thing ... in Pullman's book, and in the Storybook of the Movie, Iorek helps liberate Bolvanger ... then he and Lyra go to the bears.

The movie was recut at the last minute by the studio, apparently by someone who drank a lot of Red Bull and wore boxing gloves.

The book, the Storybook and indeed the trailer all have a different ending to the movie, too.

I agree with so much of what Stephanie said, and on top of that, the movie had a major plot point I just couldn't get past

(Spoiler Alert!)

After Ioreck resumes his (f)rightful place as head of the ice-bear army, why the hell doesn't he use them in the horrific battle to free Kyra? They are an army of undifferentiated fighters. Is he saving them for a special occasion?

Just sayin'...

And not because of this review. It is because of the glowing review she gave "Chronicles of Narnia." Oh, she had my mouth watering for it. I grew up on the Narnia books. I was so ready for a movie done right. Stephanie loved it. I was ready to love it, till I saw it. It was boring. It was dreadful. It was shallow. It made me question my love for the books.

Now she has gutted "The Golden Compass," based another book I loved. My take on her review was that she was hungering to join in the Nichole Kidman pile on. Stephanie had some choice mal mots to toss on and "The Golden Compass" offered her best shot. So I have a great deal of hope that the movie is far more watchable than the Narnia mess.

Maybe I can trust Stephanie Zacharek, but only if I don't trust her. Ironic isn't it?

When so many people (31 of 33 at last count) concur that a film is deeply flawed or 'its own kind of hell', it does cause me to reflect on my own, very different, impression. And quite different it was. I loved the film. I saw two superlatives. One was Dakota Blue Richards - contrary to Zacharek, I thought she brought Lyra stunningly to life (except in those smarmy, saccharine moments when she hugs Iorek, which nearly killed the film - these were clearly directorial missteps). Close behind was the creation of atmosphere - so many scenes were a perfect, eerie melding of this world and some other unknown one. In this latter respect GC left LOTR and Narnia far behind (nothing that compares to the silliness of how Rivendell was depicted, or the idiocy of the beaver house scene in Narnia). And let me say, i am a big fan of the LOTR and Narnia films.

I would agree that there are many weak point in Golden Compass, the ones above being the worst. Yes, more Eva Green and Daniel Craig would have been very welcome - every time they appeared the film took on new gravitas. And yes, the film was jumbled; I left the theater wondering how it would work if you had not read the book. I did think the much-heralded bear fight was simply OK, certainly not very scary, even for a kid. Otherwise I thought the CG effects were quite good, particularly with the daemons, and did not come across as 'money thrown at the film' or 'machinery'.

The complaint list could go on, but ultimately my experience was one of great delight and enchantment. I would not claim that this is a 'great' film, but for me it worked, far more than I had expected.

As to the question of Pullman as a writer compared to Tolkien as a writer. I grew up with Tolkien (the books)in the late 60s, early 70s. He is god-like to me. I saw each of the films 4 times in the theater, and found much to love there. But I think the quick, dismissive comparisons to Pullman are very wide of the mark. Pullman has created something new, vital, and deeply creative. Too soon to play favorites, much less to pose as literary critics.