Where do we start off? At the beginning, of course. Everyone's Daemons looked very cool even though they were CG. A lot of the animals even looked realistic in the blink of an eye. Don't even get me started on the transformations.
However, some of the scenes involving Daemons confused me. Example: Lyra's mother had a monkey. It made monkey-like noises, but never ever talked. In fact, only two Daemons that belonged to an adult talked throughout the whole movie, so they're not completely deprived of that talent. Not to mention, Pan (Lyra's Daemon) went through many trandformations in the book. From a moth, to a canary, to whatever else he became. Throughout the movie, however, I can count on one hand exactly what he was.
1. A ferret
2. Some kind of bird. (I think it was a swallow)
3. A hawk (Only to grab the compass from anyone but Lyra)
4. A butterfly.
5. A cat.
I really would have like to see more shapeshifting, since a child's Daemon could actually do that and not an adult's.
The highlight of the movie? The polar bears. Rather, the armored bears. They looked so much like real polar bears, that I actually forgot they were CG. And, while I had a hard time figuring out how they would put it on, they each had a unique armor that enhanced the movie.
The hilarious part is, the first one she meets is an alcoholic. lol
My all time favorite scene happened to be the two armored bears battling it out. The scene was rendered so beautifully, and it seemed like the crew worked extra hard on this scene. It was simply breathtaking, and the quality was amazing. The angles were very clever to keep up with it to.
In fact, every battle scene was done so well, that they were starting to become what I looked forward to. When someone died, their Daemons would simply disappear in a puff of smoke, and it looked pretty every time. Hey, you were all bloody, but at least your Daemon looked good when it died!
The biggest disappointment was the ending. The director practically skips over the last chapter, presumably to make the audience hungry for a sequel. It was very open, and Lyra hadn't even saved the universe, yet. She didn't even find her father up in the north! When the credits came on I simply had a 'You're kidding me' look on my face.
Overall, I give the movie a 7. I definitely recommend you go see it when you have the time and money. (I, personally, went to a cheap theatre and only paid $4 for my ticket.)
