The Golden Compass (2007)

Loved it.

The more I think about this film, the more I enjoyed it. This movie had all the aspects I look for in a movie. Great story, engaging dialog, great visuals and music, and something to make me think. But there were two things I liked most about this movie.

1) The Girl. She was a great character from beginning to end. She was not just the lead character, she was by far the star. Her cheekiness, to her dedicated fight at the end, was believable at every turn.

2) Agency. Ultimately, I believe this movie was about agency. I've never read the book. I don't know the author of the book or the screenplay, or what their belief systems might be. But the basic message from the movie I got was that any organization or authority that tries to remove agency is bad. This is a message I happen to believe in.

I only have two complaints. First, the movie felt a bit rushed throughout. This is a risk with a book adaptation. It is hard to have time to put everything in that needs to be in there. Second, the end felt a bit canned. They were trying to create an ending that didn't feel to much like a cliffhanger, because when they made this film they didn't know if they were going to be able to make any others. Thay had to give us some kind of ending. But unfortunately, it kinda felt like they just stuck a little dialog on the end and called it good.

However, even with those two small complaints, I enjoyed myself while watching, and I enjoyed thinking about it after. What more can you want.