THE GOLDEN COMPASS

FILM OPINION

Written and Directed by Chris Weitz
Based on the Novel by Philip Pullman
CAST: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Ian McKellen (voice), and Dakota Blue Richards

With the historic success of the Harry Potter books and movies, not to mention the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia franchises, Hollywood has predictably saturated the market with film adaptations of popular fantasy novels. While the LOTR trilogy was absolutely stunning and some have been quite entertaining (Harry Potter), most adaptations have been either serviceable (Narnia) or disappointing (Eragon and Series of Unfortunate Events foremost among them) have been disappointing. Coming soon are Holly Black's Spiderwick Chronicles and Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, but kicking off the latest wave is The Golden Compass of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. Though such a film would seem to have a built-in audience with fans of the book, blockbuster status can only be attained by seducing the "casual film-goer" into spending ten bucks to see it. How do you do that? Stunning visuals in the trailer, and name stars.

The Golden Compass certainly has both. Some of the visuals are absolutely beautiful, particularly the aerial shots of the College and the alternate version of London. As for stars, they don't come any bigger than Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The Golden Compass fares better than your typical fantasy in that it boasts a compelling protagonist, the feisty and resourceful Lyra (Dakota Blue Roberts). It also has the neat conceit of animal "daemons," physical manifestations of human souls. An indicator of the level of talent that the film drew can be found in the voice talents: Ian McKellen, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kathy Bates, and Freddie Highmore. That being said, the film understandably tries to do too much. While it has some very exciting moments (particularly among the bears), it peters out at the end and intentionally leaves the story unresolved. What goes wrong? In short, too much plot involving too many characters in too short a time. It is difficult to care for any of the people involved; in fact, I most identified with Iorek Byrnison, the war bear.

Of course, The Golden Compass is stirring up all sorts of controversy because of author Philip Pullman's avowed atheism. Indeed, the menacing, all-powerful institution is called The Church in the novels, softened as the Magisterium in the film. The heroes are fighting for that greatest of all threats to fundamentalism, FREE WILL, and the villains are trying to brainwash the children into non-questioning believers. While The Golden Compass is not a great one, I can't help but encourage people to see any film that seeks to undermine such controlling paradigms.

GRADE: C