Well, my first film seen in all digital, freshly installed at the theater... and not quite fully tested. Fourty-five minutes later and we're all in another theater. Side note after that: one of the trailers was for the upcoming Speed Racer movie. Looks great! Anyway, on with The Golden Compass.

Never read the books, and the way the movie ends we'd all best hope they start filming the sequels because it doesn't end with this first movie. In another Earth, everyone has their soul inhabited in an animal spirit called a "demon" (though some later subtitles reveal it to be the more mythologically correct "daemon"), in a world that knows of magic and such those the Establishment would rather dumb that knowledge down in favor of more absolute contrrol. The Golden Compass is the last of it's kind, all others destroyed; a device that helps point to the truth- another something the Estrablishment doesn't want anyone to have around. Naturally the only one that can seem to read the thing is the little girl mentioned in profecy that everyone seems to be chasing.

Not bad overall, the movie is entertaining enough and I look forward to any sequels, though I don't think it will become as large as other recent fantasy book to movie movies (for one thing, I never heard of the books). There is a bright element of fantasy with a cavalcade of notable actors (seems Sam Elliot's making a comeback of late), and the right mix of atmospheric visuals to set the tone. Of the recent spate of kid-finds-magic-gizmo movies of late, this is one I'd recommend.