Gee, I haven't read a discussion on the dire effects a movie will have on our youth since... well, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (2005) One side in favor of and saying its good for the kiddies, the other side saying it is evil propaganda and causes people to instantly stop thinking for themselves and run right out to convert - to... something-or-other. I lost track after the last Harry Potter crisis.

     I watch people on different news programs give one "expert opinion" after another some pro, some con, some I can't figure out where they stand but they do offer their infallible expert opinion that BTW is so much better than that other person's opinion.

     Many children will undoubtedly watch the Golden Compass, as they have the Harry Potter Movies and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Some might even be inspired to pick up a book or two, but as the Narnia movie didn't produce a mass conversion to (or from) Christianity, and you don't see gangs of youngsters walking down the streets shaking sticks at people trying to turn them into frogs, I suspect that for the most part people will go to see the Golden Compass movie to be entertained and won't walk out of the theaters totally brain washed, well no more than they normally are after sitting in a movie for an hour or so stuffing down handfuls of pop corn, twizzlers and a liter of Dr. Pepper.

     Its commendable that parents are being informed about the intent or the original author but as I suspect the movie will have as little connection from the written source as did the Walking Tall movie (staring the Rock, I thought it was laughable. Entertaining but laughable.) or the Harry Potter movies. It seems that every one has to be for or against something now days and a good way to grab your fifteen minutes is to rag on some children's movie for some, but really, with home work the school social dynamics, extra curricular activities and an entirely diffreent set of social dynamics involved there, the internet, television, zits, iPod's, texting, trying to figure out how to start a new fashion trend that will catch on all over town and having to deal with siblings and lost in the past parents, how many kids would you think will be open to the deeper philosophical meanings of a movie about saddled bears and such?

     It's only for a few hours or so then most likely the incident will be filed away into a special place in the back of the brain somewhere, not like the lyrics of the music and feedback from cyber surfing and game playing that occurs on a daily basis for hours at a time.

     Now I've had my say, and my 15 seconds. Enjoy the movie -