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| Director: Chris Weitz
Actors: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Ben Walker (ix), Freddie Highmore
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $12.96
You Save: $22.03 (63%)
New (51) Used (27) Collectible (3) from $11.50
Rating:  241 reviews
Sales Rank: 4269
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Icelandic (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 113 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: TRNDN38167D
UPC: 794043120435
EAN: 0794043120435
ASIN: B00005JPNY
Theatrical Release Date: December 7, 2007
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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| Customer Reviews:
 This movie was awesome October 26, 2008
Music Is The Best (Pretendland)
I love the books and this movie was great, and the ending was good even though they sort of left it out.
Why a Wonderful Movie failed at the Box Office. October 14, 2008
Warlen Bassham (Bothell, WA United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Disclaimer--Having seen this movie eleven times in theatres and three times since I bought the DVD, I must confess up front that this is by far my all-time favorite movie out of the many hundreds I have seen over the years. [I'm 68 at this writing.] So the fact that I love it so much will undoubtedly influence this review, and, if you're looking for objectivity above all, this review is probably not a good place to start.
That said, I'm nevertheless going to try to be as relatively-objective as is possible given that background, and in order to do so I'm going to have to write a very long review. I apologize in advance, but urge you to bear with me, because if you care at all about the state of the cinema or about the rights of children, or both, I have some things to say to you.
First, a quick plot summary, for those who have read neither the books nor the other reviews on this site.
Lyra Belacqua, a young girl on the verge of adolecscence, in a somewhat altered London set in an alternate and fairly parallel universe, becomes the central figure in a convoluted story of adults who manipulate and/or try to control children, and of the children who are their victims. Two of her best friends are kidnapped by the 'child-cutters,' as some opponents describe them, and it becomes Lyra's mission to rescue them. In this quest she is aided by, first, a group of Gyptians [sea-faring gypsies], second, an Aeronaut from Texas [who flies a hydrogen-filled blimp of sorts], and, third, an Armored Bear [imagine an over-large ferocious but friendly Polar Bear in medieval Knight's Armor, and you're a third of the way there].
One peculiarity of this parallel universe is that every human being in it has associated with him or her an animal spirit, a daemon [mis-pronounced as 'demon' in the movie], who is an integral part of her or his personality and individuality. If either the daemon or the human dies, the other immediately dies as well. But, as it turns out, they CAN be permanently separated from each other, by a horrible device called an Intercision Machine. [Hence the term 'child-cutters.'] This makes both aspects of the personality involved much easier to control, and, of course, inevitably, the adults who do the dirty work explain that they are doing it 'for your own good.' Yep. We've heard that before.
Lyra has been rather indifferently 'raised' by a group of scholars at Oxford's 'Jordan College,' and has in fact been pretty much a street orphan of sorts who has learned to survive by wile, by subterfuge, and by outright lying. This background equips her perfectly for her role as saviour of her fellow kids, as she battles not only the child-cutters but other people who seem superficially to be on her side. She literally never knows quite who to trust, and in one case trusts someone whom she never should have [though we won't find that out till they make the sequel, if they ever do, as the original ending of the movie which reveals this fact was cut just before release].
Needless to say, this being a kid's movie after all, Lyra in a sense achieves a part of her goal, although in doing so she sets things up for even more horrific confrontations to come. The story is far from over at the end of the movie, although the absolute gut-wrenching cliffhanger at the end of the book is avoided.
So much for plot.
In judging this production, I do have a few negative things to say, so will get them out of the way first:
1. The book is much, much better. The movie's story line is vastly oversimplified and a lot of delicious detail is left out, plus which the sequence of events is altered in a major way, which may offend you greatly if you're any kind of purist.
2. The movie did not have the guts to call The Magisterium by its name in the books: The Church. On the other hand, since in the symbology used by author Pullman in the books, The Church in Lyra's parallel universe is NOT the same as The Church in ours, it's probably just as well that the movie made this alteration. [The religious right fanatics who protested this movie had obviously never read the books, or they would have realized they were protesting entirely the wrong thing: The Church being condemned in the books is what we call Science in our universe!]
3. Several clues in the first book which hinted at the real nature of what daemons are [they are NOT souls, for pity sake] are omitted from the movie, so that the true nature of the animal spirits remains a total mystery to most viewers, and even for that matter to some readers of the books, evidently, judging by all the misinformation floating around out there. In this connection, I should point out that just as our heroine, Lyra, tells lies in order to convey deeper truths, so do some other characters, and so does the author of the book. He knows good and well that daemons are not souls, but he pretends at times to say that they are to keep from getting thrown out of society in general. Likewise, I'm sure that the director knows the truth as well, but also doesn't want to flush his career down the toilet by admitting it.
Now for the positives, and there are a ton:
1. As several other reviewers have pointed out, the computer generated characters and other special effects are state of the art. Iorek alone, the Armored Bear, is worth several times the price of admission. He is just as 'real' as any of the human characters in the movie. The Oscar was well deserved.
2. The acting is superb throughout, particularly the fantastic Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra. [It's an absolute crime against humanity that by the time they get around to making the sequels, she will be too old to play the role.]
3. The musical score by Alexandre Desplat is wonderful and helps carry the movie, often alerting the viewer subtly to the true nature of the characters.
4. The much-maligned quick-cut editing is actually one of the movie's strong points, especially when you see it more than once.
5. Chris Weitz' script and direction are spot-on.
6. The art design, set decoration, and costumes are all worthy of the comparisons being made to Lord of the Rings.
7. The simplification of the plot, compared to the book, and the omission of a lot of narrative detail, was necessary to keep the movie from being more than three hours long. True, I would have loved the three hour version even more than this one, but the movie is aimed primarily at kids, after all, and what modern kid will sit still through even a three-minute movie, let alone a three hour one.
8. This movie is 'good for you,' and good for your kids. Your ten, eleven, and twelve year olds should watch it over and over. The ones who have not been seduced by video game culture will appreciate it, and even those who have may find themselves being redeemed. The general run of Hollywood cinema for kids is worse than pablum. This one has real mental nutrition in it, and the kids who see it will 'get it,' even when the adults don't.
Which concludes my review of the movie and of the DVD. But I have a few more words to say, partly because this story in both book and movie form is so controversial and also because the underlying theme--the rights of children--is so critical to the health of our society. Or to put it another way, the underlying theme of the rights of children explains WHY the story is so controversial, and that requires some comment.
The bad guys in this movie--by which I mean both the overtly bad ones and the ones who seem superficially to be 'good guys' but aren't--are the epitome of what's wrong with the way we treat children in our society. [By 'our' society, I am referring to the U.S. mostly.] And that is why the movie was a box-office failure in the U.S. and was a wild success in the rest of the world. It had nothing to do with the advertising or the way it was promoted. It has everything to do with the way most parents and other adult authority figures in our culture relate to kids:
As the comic strip character Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." WE are the child-cutters. WE are the ones who deny children the right to explore their own feelings, especially their own feelings relating to their growing sense of sexuality. WE are the ones who tolerate child-rearing based on 'authority' rather than on nurturance. WE are the ones who say, "Because I said so," when asked 'Why' by the little ones. The bad guys in this story are US. Of COURSE such a movie, with such a message, is going to fail at the box office. People are not entirely stupid. They are not going to pay to expose their kids to propaganda aimed at getting them to rebel against The Magisterium. Because the Magisterium is not The Church. It's you and me. Except I've resigned from it. And if you have any sense, you will too. And you'll be on the side henceforth of those who believe that children very often know what's best for themselves, and believe it, and do it, provided the rest of us just please stop getting in the way, with our Intercision Machines cutting away the kids' spirits from them.
Its ok October 11, 2008
AnimeGod981 (MA)
This was an enchanting story with great CGI. Acting was well done as well. Just took a bit of time to develop and when it got interesting it ended... I'd compare this to Chronicles of Narnia and Stardust
 Safe movie --avoids main issues October 8, 2008
W. Jamison (Eagle River, Ak United States)
None of the quasi scientific aspects of the book makes it into the movie. Character development, poor in the books, is of course worse in the movie. But most significant in comparison between the book and film is the avoidance entirely of who the Magisterium represents and so who the war is really against. As a result the plot must seem simply baffling to those who have not read the trilogy. The bears become the most interesting thing and it makes sense why an Oscar went in that direction. In short, this one is not a keeper. I have no interest in watching it again to seek nuances I might have missed nor would I be interested in seeing the other two books treated the same way. But as an interesting movie for kids it was beautifully done. The heroine will be good for girls who need more examples of young girls doing well and it should tweak imaginations.
Can negative reviews kill what could have been a fantastic series? September 28, 2008
S. Chen (Charlottesville, VA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials never gained the
fame and mass following of JKR's Harry Potter. But his series was one
of my favorites as a child, and now this first movie is a visual treat,
and welcome reminder of how wonderful the books were.
Unfortunately, we marketed the movie all wrong in the US, and labeling
the series as the "anti-Narnia chronicles" did not help boost its
popularity among the audience here, which reveres CS Lewis's creation.
Please understand, there is nothing about His Dark Materials that
detracts from the wonder and Christian themes found in Narnia. If
anything, having read the two series side by side as a kid, I was able
to appreciate the parallels between stories, as well as the different
worldviews of each author.
I think children and adults alike will enjoy this movie tremendously,
regardless of religion or worldview, regardless of whether or not they
have read the books. My boyfriend was not familiar with the series,
but enjoyed it as much as I did. In fact, he was the one who informed
me that the next 2 movies are not currently in production, as it
failed to crack $70 million in the domestic box office despite huge
success overseas. In fact, it is the first film to ever crack $300
million internationally without reaching $100 million domestic. An
astonishing disconnect, really.
The producer has vowed to make the 2nd and 3rd movies, and I'm
crossing my fingers they do a better job marketing the movie (and that
critics aren't so quick to trash it!) This series has real potential.
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