The third book of the trilogy does get environmentally whacky and the polar bears are threatened. Spoiler here: they do ok in the end.
Actually, I can see why Coke is interested, given their advertising. But they might come to regret it later when they see the real intent of the trilogy. It depends on people’s response. I heard a very negative film critique this morning on radio.
I also heard a VERY negative film review this morning.
The polar bears are adorable (wouldn’t want to meet one in person though), but they are not in danger.
Roger Ebert gave the movie 4 stars. Write this down: Never, ever, see a movie that Ebert gives 4 stars to...it’s either some liberal propaganda or some weird, loser movie.
Of course, this would require that nobody who works at Coca-Cola can read. They are evil, not stupid.
http://movies.houstonpress.com/2007-12-06/film/the-golden-compass/
But along with that sidelong allusion to a decidedly virtuous, righteous child who will save us all, the film contains a head-spinning hodgepodge of ideas and tetchy references wedged into a serviceable (if harried) fantasy lark. Pulling even the diaphanously cloaked punches of the book, Weitz avoids Compass’s one relatively direct indictment (involving Adam, Eve and a pile of bollocks called “Original Sin”) altogether by having the film end three crucial chapters before the book does. Those punches, unfortunately, are intrinsic to Compass’s valorous narrative fight (i.e., trying to get kids to swallow some sense with their fantasy). By insisting on many of Pullman’s heady conceits but diluting the doctrinal antidote encoded within them, the intricate plot becomes an empty challenge. In drawing and quartering much of the novel’s intent, Weitz ends up with a film that feels not just unfinished but undone.