The Golden Compass.

And enjoyed it. I'm anybody's for a good airship--why do we still love airships? Maybe it's because we miss the ineffable luxury of being compelled to travel slowly*--and, possibly since I haven't yet read the books, I didn't mind one bit that they left out the Big Damn Message. The only thing that concerns me is whether this film will do well enough to keep them on track with the sequels. Boom's got to end some time. Or, as Ivanova did not say, probably wisely, there's always a bust tomorrow.

*This, of course, needs explaining. I'm not talking about being trapped in a traffic jam here--the whole infuriating thing about travel nowadays is that we expect and are expected to go faster and faster, get there sooner and sooner, and traffic jams and road works and such like prevent us from fulfilling that expectation. With airships and steam trains and similar outmoded forms of transport, the perception is that that expectation is removed--you go at the speed of the vehicle, and nobody expects you to get there any sooner than it can. There's a relief and a charm in that, I think.