Almost serviceable fantasy adventure based on the first book of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. On the plus side, some nifty ideas (people’s souls walk next to them in animal, or “daemon”, form), spiffy Victorian/steampunk designs, icy Nicole Kidman, and in the lead, an adorable girl (Dakota Blue Richards) with Sarah Polley eyes, trying [...]
Posts Tagged ‘heros-journey’
Tales from Earthsea
Poor Goro. Could there be anything more thankless than taking over a project tailor-made for your genius father, a master of animation renowned for his grace and deep humanity, and attempt to match his best work? When it was announced that Goro Miyazaki, son of anime legend Hayao, was directing the adaptation of Ursula K. [...]
In Brief
We’re about to embark on a longish trip, so expect the emphasis on muckworld to shift to photos and tidbits from the road for a little while. While we’re packing our bags and staying on the line with our cell phone providers to work out the kinks in the international roaming plan, let me catch [...]
The Devil Wears Prada
This heroine’s journey through the world of high-powered New York fashion is as much a genre fantasy as the Harry Potter books Andy (Anne Hathaway) is sent to procure–with Sixth Avenue instead of Hogwarts, gay Stanley Tucci as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Paris for Mordor. The humor has some snap but the storytelling is painfully obvious, [...]
