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Golden Compass Hard to Follow

Posted Dec 7, 07 1:10 PM CST in Gossip,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – Critics are mixed on The Golden Compass, praising the controversial film's special effects but complaining about a lack of engaging storytelling. "The film is dominated by computer-generated effects and they're most of its problem— they don't give us anything to emotionally attach to or invest in," wrote Paula Nechak in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The movie is an "impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure," said Variety's Todd McCarthy. The fantasy adaptation, which has taken flak over the author's atheist convictions, stars Nicole Kidman in a tale of a girl swept into a muddled mystical conflict. Slate's Dana Stevens sums it up as "a tepid, jumbled Hollywood fable whose final message seems to amount to little more than 'Follow your dreams,' or worse, 'Stay tuned for the sequel.' "

Sources Metacritic, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Variety, Slate

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In this file photo provided by New Line Cinema, Dakota Blue Richards stars in New Line Cinemas release of Chris Weitzs "The Golden Compass." (AP Photo/New Line Cinema, FILE)   (Associated Press)
British actor Daniel Craig arrives for the world premiere of the film The Golden Compass at a cinema in London, Wednesday Nov. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)   (Associated Press)
Director Chris Weitz arrives at the premiere of "The Golden Compass" at the Ziegfeld Theatre, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)   (Associated Press)
Nicole Kidman stars as the villainous Marisa Coulter in 'The Golden Compass.'   (© New Line Cinema)
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movie  • movie review  • Nicole Kidman  • Daniel Craig  • Golden Compass  • Philip Pullman


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