Upcoming Movie: Golden Compass

I have gotten a few emails about a new movie that's coming out, so I thought I'd post my findings here for others to read, too. The movie is The Golden Compass (which I will abbreviate, TGC), releasing on December 7, 2007. Obviously I have not seen the movie, since it hasn't been released yet, nor have I read the books the movie is based upon. The commercials I've seen for the movie piqued my interest, but the emails have been one of warning and concern.

Snopes.com discusses the claim that, "TGC is based on a series of books with anti-religious themes." They found the claim to be true. Their article can be read here.

I found fans of the books on Rotten Tomatoes Forums discussing how disappointing the movie will be after all of the anti-Christian themes have been softened so that the movie will be more appealing to American viewers. Seems that those people that liked the books for it's anti-Christian sentiment are upset that it has been removed.

Some emails from Christians speculate that the movie was softened to be more appealing to children, who would then want to read the books, their parents not realizing the content.

Wikipedia has a very good synopsis of all three books. If you read the entire page on His Dark Materials, the trilogy (the movie is based on book one), you will see the anti-Christian themes that are found in the books. It is more than enough evidence for me not to see the movie.

Here are a couple more articles on the film from Focus on the Family sources:
Golden Compass Reveals a World Where There is No God, CitizenLink
Red flags waved over seemingly family-friendly film, Family News in Focus

You may be wondering if this should matter to you. I'd recommend you read the synopsis from Wikipedia and tell me if it matters.