SummaryThe adaptation of Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy from the BBC and HBO follows Lyra (Dafne Keen) as she searches for her kidnapped friend, makes new friends and discovers secrets people want kept hidden.
SummaryThe adaptation of Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy from the BBC and HBO follows Lyra (Dafne Keen) as she searches for her kidnapped friend, makes new friends and discovers secrets people want kept hidden.
It has been streamlined by screenwriter Jack Thorne and some characters and plot elements from the book have been ditched but it remains a thrilling, immersive TV treat that looks stunning and still has the hard-hitting emotional heft of the book. It is a credit to all involved, both on and off-screen.
Wilson is riveting as the mysterious Mrs. Coulter. ... Keen easily conveys [Lyra's] cocksure spirit and fragile innocence; she is a rare child actor who is fully believable as a child. A caveat: This review is based on the first three episodes only (out of eight), so it’s impossible to say whether HDM will fill fulfill its early promise. (Either way, the show has a two-season order.) For now, though, HBO’s new fantasy saga feels like a page-turner.
It's phenomenal and finally does justice to this awesome story! It's everything and more a book/lore fanatic can expect from a good adaptation.
Every actor delivers their character with devotion.
The writers and directors are 100% compentent, talented and understand the material they are working with.
Bringing the series to an emotional conclusion, this is a complex, ambitious take on books that always required considerable commitment. There are budget limitations, but they’re overcome thanks to a clever adaptation and daemonically good cast.
At the end of the day, Season 3 of His Dark Materials is…fine. Fans of Pullman’s novels will love the opportunity to see the world of his books brought to such vivid and detailed life onscreen, and its final episode is a rich and heartfelt coda to all that has come before, with Keene and Wilson at their absolute best together. But it’s hard not to wonder what a version of this series that was more willing to take more risks.
Amir Wilson is good as Will Parry, who comes from Earth's Oxford, and Dafne Keen has barely put a foot wrong as Lyra, who comes from the "alternative" Oxford, but I'm less engaged when minors carry the bulk of the episode. It doesn't help that Lyra's daemon, Pan, sounds like the schoolboy from the Milkybar advert. ... Give it time to blossom.
The dazzling intelligence of the books becomes blandly expository in the actors’ mouths, while that spark of madness – the shimmering aurora – fades as the story reaches its final notes.
A "Harry Potter" wannabe, I just couldn't get into this. Let's see, another world in another dimension, check, each human has an animal partner, check, her parents have a mysterious past, check.
This show is sadly very mediocre. Pretty much every single scene just feels so uncomfortable and stilted. Most scenes are very different from the written original both in events and tone. They cut out book scenes, and introduce new ones instead. The original plot points and revelations are all shuffled up into an unappealing mess. Daemons barely appear, and with the exception of Hester, they seem completely irrelevant.
The art direction also feels almost nonexistent. The 2007 movie was visually gorgeous and had a strong, consistent visual theme. Here everything is just so drab and thematically confused - by the environments and clothes it feels more set in the 60-70s, than in the late 19th - early 20th century.
It feels like the series tried to incorporate as much lore from the terrible La Belle Sauvage novel into the trilogy as possible, largely to its detriment.
Does not compare well with the movie version. Everything from actors to production design, etc. seem mediocre by comparison. That may have been unavoidable because of budget or requirements of a TV version. Still, the story seems drawn out and is hard to be drawn into. HBO could have done better. It's hard to beat Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman and Ian McKellen.