The "Re-edit?"

"Where are people finding the idea that New Line re-edited this movie?"
Read the Wikipedia article on the movie. New Line ordered Weitz to re-edit the movie.

"Also, how is this a "Hollywood" film?"
Hollywood funding, Hollywood people calling the shots.

"Yet, in any case, let's blame "Hollywood.""
In this case, yes, let's.

It's actually interesting to look at the ways in which the film was seriously re-edited.

1)

The studio removed the original ending before the effects work was finished on it and planned to use it as the beginning of the next film. Some scenes from this original ending -- scenes of Lyra meeting Asriel and Asriel stealing Roger in the middle of the night -- appeared in The Golden Compass videogame, all of which suggests that the decision to remove the original ending was made after the videogame had been mass-produced (i.e. pretty late in the day).

In one of the trailers, there are glimpses from the original ending of things like Asriel and Mrs Coulter embracing. Also, the scene from the film in which Lyra crosses the ice bridge was meant to come before this original ending. Notice how awkwardly placed that scene is in the film we got, and notice how, in it, Lyra and Iorek are headed in the direction of the northern lights.

One fan of the series has actually managed to make a fairly good recreation of the original ending using the deleted scenes, concept art and storyboards. It's worth checking out...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWM3XrnlNTU

The same person recreated the scene where Scoresby's balloon crashes abd Lyra is thrown overboard. This should have come after Bolvangar but before Svalbard in the original cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCWGs22ym_o

2)

The studio changed the order of the Bolvangar and Svalbard sequences, presumably because they thought it would be better to put the battle with the Tartars closer to the end.

The person who re-created the original ending has blogged about what he feels are the consequences of this major structural change.

http://www.northern-lights-fanedit.com/content/articles

I'll summarize some of his thoughts...

-- In the film, the (human) hunters take Lyra to Svalbard instead of the bears, which is a bit weird.

-- In the film, when Lyra heads off to Bolvangar, Lord Asriel is no longer imprisoned by anybody. The film and its characters basically forget about him for the duration of the Bolvangar sequence.

-- In the book, the bear fight is important because Lord Asriel's freedom depends on it. In the film, however, the trip to Svalbard is more like a detour.

-- The re-edit means that the high-point of the film -- the bears fighting -- comes half-an-hour before the end.

-- In the film, the bridge scene feels out-of-place.

3)

The studio made small but significant changes throughout the film.

-- The heavy-handed voiceover explanation of dust and daemons was added at the beginning.

-- The back-story between Farder Coram and Serafina was almost completely removed.

-- Lyra witnessing the death of the Gyptian spy was removed.

-- The total time Lyra spent with the Gyptians was reduced.

-- The scene between Fra Pavel and the Magisterial Emissary was reduced.

-- The invasion of Jordan College and the arrest of the Master were removed.


If you want a more in-depth look at what was changed, including even descriptions of changes made to the order of shots in certain scenes, please check out this person's blog.

http://www.northern-lights-fanedit.com/content/articles