Posted

Dec 26th 2007

Mood

Annoyed

With the release of the movie Transformers, there was a significant outrage, myself included, of the poor characterization. As my friend Chibs said, there isn't exactly any characterization of -any- Transformer, except Optimus and Bumblebee. Michael Bay seemed to have packed too many characters under one roof, and, commonly like a party, failed to introduce everyone.

I cannot tell you, how disappointed I am. Mind you, I've never read the books, but I cannot tell you, how much I feel this director, broke Bay's record of being poor at directing. To put it bluntly, he did this entire movie, as if he was reading page by page. And then summarized each chapter, and used that. Remember back in school when you get kids to read, and they either read too fast or slow? Or they mumble? Yeah. Exactly like that. The dialogue was quick, and EXTREMELY detailed for a character who's only 12 years old. The terminology was so outlandish, it's considered a sin if you didn't read the book before the movie. And the acting...the voice acting...the acting in general....well, it was like they had the script in front of them, and was reading, with no emotion, and as if someone told them to speak up and put more passion into it: They overdid it.




SPOILERS (If you don't intend to see the movie, then by all means, continue.)
- - - - - - - -

Before I went to go see Golden Compass, I had heard rumors that alot of Christians were against it, saying it stated God could be defeated. They say the author of the books intended it to be that way. Well, perhaps the director was mislead, or...just doesn't understand religion. I understand when I'm blunt, but the director and producer for this movie seemed like Avril Lavigne singing 'Girlfriend'. Just get to the point. The Magisterium is the church. Dust is the disbelief. GRAB this disbelief and carry it with you! OVERRUN THE CHURCH.

If I was christian, even -I- would be offended severely by the bluntness. There was no 'opinion'. This movie made it straight on, "You have no choice. Convert or be destroyed."

Good. God.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I was disappointed, by how there was no build up. The movie seemed to go on, to the point where, I honestly wondered when it would end. There were small conflicts, and that was it. Every so often you'd hear "We need to save the children," or "We need to overrule the king." It was so subtle, and it was mumbly. Half the time I couldn't figure out what the people were saying. And the addition of characters every few seconds? Unbelievable. Add that to a disoriented plot. And I mean disoriented. Remember Harry Potter 3, where there were blackouts every scene change? Same thing. Except, fill the blackouts with 'travel scenes'. It was unbelievable corny, and it threw off everyone I heard mumbling in the theater. And the daemons. The 'outer souls' that were given to everyone. I don't know about you, but I don't know many souls who have opposite personalities of their owners. Souls are what makes up a person, instead of being a companion. And the 'cutting' off your daemon, was ridiculously absurd. It didn't help the main character's daemon was a cowardly beast. And while I could understand how a daemon to a young child does not settle immediately, I honestly thought they were just changing them just so that animal could be there. And with the very LOW variety of daemons to choose from (All of the army's were Wolves), it made you wonder: Is anyone in this damn movie unique?

And don't even get me started on the bear fight. The other day I was watching a fun animation on DA laughing at that part, and I cannot tell you how....well, for a PG movie, this...shouldn't have been seen. Hell, for a PG movie the fighting that I witnessed in this movie shouldn't have passed rating. Dismantling a polar bear's lower jaw, that somehow causes it to die instantly, without severe blood loss....is.......ugh. I was -shocked-. I for one didn't expect the blow. I thought the animation where the lower jaw was released from the rest of the beast was just exaggerating. It -does- happen. And the jaw, thank you director, COMES FLYING AT THE SCREEN.

But all in all, perhaps I am being a bit over exagerrating of it, since I havent' read the books. So I continue not to judge the author or the book itself. But...if this movie was a match up to its book, I'm a bit more than thankful Borders was closed today.