There has recently been an email making the rounds about the movie, The Golden Compass, and how it is based on the book of an atheist author. The "evil" symbolism it supposedly portrays is that the protaganists go against Christianity and they win.

Now I haven't seen the movie yet but it just galls me how narrow-minded some people can be. Look at the effect of that email. Because of the warped perception (and remember that all of us have warped perceptions) of a few people (who may not even have seen the movie since the email circulated way before the showdates), there have been people condemning, decrying and judging it -- without even having seen it.

And of course, that's how these poor people behave because it was someone "authoritative" who sent the email -- a pastor, a priest, a nun, a church worker, etc., so it has to be true, right?

Well I say enough.

People have got to learn to THINK for themselves. The church isn't helping by promoting a mentality of fear and hopelessness -- yes it's fear -- why else would you go around warning people about it? You did it with Harry Potter (although I'd bet you went and watched the movie anyway), and countless other books and movies as well, hysterically banning this and banning that.

If your God is so great, what are you afraid of?

But what about the kids? You may ask. Their innocent minds will be polluted and they will be brainwashed.

Excuse me. It doesn't take a movie to brainwash a kid. Reality does a good job of that on its own. And I'm not even talking about reality "out there." How do you live in your own little homes? How do you relate to one another? How do you treat each other? What kind of TV shows do they watch? What kind of shows do YOU watch that your kids see? What kind of language do you use?

What about school? What does the child pick up from his/her classmates, from teachers, from other parents? The movie lasts only a couple of hours but reality drenches the kids every single day.

The more you think about it, the more you realize that you CANNOT protect the kids from everything. The best thing you can do is to teach them to THINK for themselves. And they cannot do that when they see you mindlessly forwarding that email out of fear and panic, and judging before seeing or understanding.

Would I let my kids watch the movie? Well, yes I would, but I've read in critic's reviews (as opposed to religious rantings) that it's not that good storywise or technical-wise anyway, so why bother? Movies aren't cheap entertainment anymore these days. Maybe if someone lends me a DVD copy or something, I'll watch it.

Only then will I have the gall to "declare judgment" on it.

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less"

                  - Marie Curie

SPOILER ALERT: This review contains descriptions of certain scenes. Don't read if you haven't seen the movie yet, unless you don't mind having a little foreknowledge...

Finally got to watch Transformers a couple of nights ago. I had high expectations of the film because I heard that it was "great" from other people. So was it really great? Well, yes and no.

The graphics was definitely awesome. I enjoyed the way the robots transformed and how tiny details were meticulously rendered--like how Prime's "earmuffs" would rotate back and forth while he was talking.

The action was good but sometimes confusing and I'd go "Who's that? Who's fighting who?" but that's forgivable.

What looked weird for me were robots climbing buildings and Optimus Prime hiding under the bridge? Is this Spiderman I'm watching?

Also, the story didn't quite hang together as seamlessly as it should. I understand that it's an action film and it's not supposed to be deep, etc. but still, the plot was so weird. Like, how come the Decepticons had to go through all the trouble to hack into U.S. supercomputers to get info about Megatron and the Autobots knew the entire story all along? How come these robots can go around breaking the pavement beneath their feet while Bumblebee couldn't break the chains that held him? If Bumble Bee had been a Beetle (as he originally was) in the movie, that might have been forgivable. How come Optimus and the other robots didn't rescue him? Because they were afraid of hurting the humans? They didn't have to hurt the humans for crying out loud. They could just walk over and snap Bumblebee's chains, then go away. I mean, they've already caused a lot of property damage, so what's a few more kilometers of broken pavement?

And the most puzzling phenomena was how Megatron got defeated. Optimus Prime had to open his chest so that Sam could put the cube in it as a last resort. Why then, would Megatron so willingly open his chest to absorb the cube's energies?

I don't know...I like my action (I loved "300") but there's just too many action flicks going around for any to make a difference unless there's a good flow of the story or good characterization.

And speaking of characterization, it's all wrong.

Take note, I'm a fanboy of Transformers. I literally grew up with the original 2D cartoons, and there was a time when I memorized the entire dialogues, script and music of Transformers: the Movie (a 2-hour 2D animated flick). I'm not kidding, you could start off with any line in the movie and I could complete it all the way to the end. I watched that film over and over that I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason our Betamax player finally conked out.

So back to characterization...My primary bone of contention...In the Witwicky's garden, Optimus Prime looked clumsy and stupid, stepping on the fountain, the plants, etc. And then he was overbearing and impatient...not quite the REAL Optimus Prime who's generally more sensible and sensitive.

Others...Ironhide was too much of a war freak, and Starscream had a deep voice? Where's the raspy, irritating, high-pitched voice of the scheming and traitorous Starscream?

Also, it would have been cool if the real Soundwave had been there instead of a small tape recorder turned into a robot that looks like a thin metal version of a gremlin.

So anyway, that's it. Good mindless action, but if you're old like me and would like a little more substance, guess this can wait for the DiBiDi version...