I am glad to hear your opinion since I have read so many and such varying reviews, some done by persons who obviously do not like fantasy films. I am currently re-reading the three books, paying particular attention to those bits which are apparently exciting the fundamentalists. Pullman repays slow and careful reading and I am taking great pleasure in this revisit to his world.

I shall wait for the DVD before I see the film. Crowds, even small ones, remain anathema to me. I wish this first dramatization were being more successful becsuae I would like all the books to be filmed. The second is so much more coherent and moving than the first. Ah...