The Golden Compass

Henry and I have heard that there was a lot of debate on the this movie, so after reading and trying to find out what made this movie so bad (supposedly its anti-religious content) we figured we'd just go ahead and watch it and see what there is to it.

Here is what we thought:

We liked the movie. The ending was kinda cheesy, but it was a fun, interesting adventure movie.

We both felt that if we wouldn't have read about it so much, we wouldn't even have noticed anything of the stuff that appears to be anti-religion. But even with our knowledge of what we were supposed to find, I really didn't find it anti-religion at all. Granted, the bad guys in the movie (the magesterium) look a lot like the Catholic church, and they call ideas people are not supposed to believe or know about heresy, but other than that I couldn't find anything bad at all. Actually, I thought this movie was all about the importance of our souls as well as our free will, and how bad it is when someone tries to take that from you. The magesterium tries to take away free will and souls from little kids to control the world, though the magesterium claims it's to prevent them from making bad choices. To me that theme alone makes it a worthwhile movie that I'd have no qualms watching with my (future) kids because I think it'll make for a great gospel discussion and how important those things truly are. You could talk about how Satan had a similar plan, and how some people (and even churches) still try to do that, and how it's always bad when someone tries to take our agency from us. I definitely didn't find the movie evil or perceived that it in anyway attacked my beliefs or morals. I agreed with a lot in it.

Of course, some may not even want to watch it simply on what's in the books the movie is based on. I, of course, cannot speak to the context of the books. My feeling is that the author very well may be opposed to organized religion, and sees them as a threat - a place where people try to take away our free will and ability to make our own decisions. Of course, I don't agree with that, but I also don't blame anyone for feeling that way. After seeing so many people on my mission who wouldn't read the bible because their priests told them they don't have to, and that the priests have all the answers, I can see why some people would feel that way, and I think their concerns are legitimate. Of course, I also feel that there is an organized religion that is not doing that, and that there are people anywhere that are trying to rob us of our agency. So, I think the movie will make for great discussion. If people don't want to watch the movie because they disagree with the beliefs of the author of the books (supposedly he is an atheist), that's fine. I'd just think they better be consistent and thus also don't read any Roald Dahl books (he wrote porn stories for Playboy) or listen to Tschaikovsky (he was gay) or...you get the idea.

The movie on its own to me is about as scary as the Harry Potter movies, and equally evil, but far more thought-provoking. Anyone watching it without reading about all the criticism, will find it to be an adventure movie about as void of religion as the Narnia movies are when you don't know what it's really about.