I was bored to tears by this movie. I had to struggle to avoid falling into unconsciousness followed swiftly be coma and then rigor mortis. But then (full disclosure) I read the whole trilogy many years ago and afterwards felt that I had rather wasted my time. The elements of the story are so clumsily and almost thoughtlessly put together (daemons are supposed to be our souls, or something. Are they physical? Do they defecate?). I find it hard to believe that Pullman's novel would have been as celebrated as it was if it were not billed as some sort of atheist propaganda. Certainly the 'Magisterium' - an obvious stand-in for the Catholic Church - is presented in a sort of simplistic, historically-illiterate manner as the root of all evil. There is one point in the first book of the trilogy when the separation of a person from their daemon is presented as the equivalent to circumcision (another sort of cutting) - and at this point I thought 'maybe the novel is about to get interesting'. Except that the point is left hanging in the air and is undeveloped (and, in any case, Christianity, in contrast to the other Abrahamic faiths, abolished circumcision - another example of the author's overall clumsiness with his ideas). So there really isn't much to grab one's interest. The prevalence of CGI in this movie is, I suppose, inevitable, but I always find CGI annoying.

My Movie Rating: 4 / 10

For all Charlie Rowe Fans, this movie is I think one of his best performances I always thought he wasn't just another pretty face! he IS a very talented actor!

My Movie Rating: 9 / 10