KEY POINTS:
Herald Rating: * * *
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Eva Green
Director: Chris Weitz
Running time: 113 mins
Rating: PG, frightening fantasy scenes and violence
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts and Berkeley from Boxing Day
Verdict: Not bad, but there's plenty of room for improvement in the sequel.
The Golden Compass is based on the first book (published as The Golden Compass in the US and Northern Lights in UK and Europe) of Philip Pullman's best-selling, award-winning children's trilogy, His Dark Materials. Directed and adapted for the big screen by Chris Weitz (About a Boy), The Golden Compass feels very much like an introduction to this trilogy, responsible for establishing all the characters and forces at play within Pullman's fantasy world.
While there is discussion as to whether Pullman's series is an anti-Christian rebuttal to C. S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia, there are obvious similarities between the two stories that make comparison inevitable. Both feature young children laden with adult responsibilities as the stories' heroes, parallel worlds, fantastical creatures and talking animals, and both films - while visually stunning - unfortunately lack that special spark required to convincingly bring the story to life on the big screen.
The Golden Compass is set within a parallel world, where people have a personal demon - an animal they must remain near to that is the manifestation of their soul. The world is ruled by a council called the Magisterium, which seeks to control all humanity, and stop scientists from discovering more about a mysterious element called Dust. The Magisterium also seeks the last remaining Golden Compass - a device that can tell the truth - which comes into the possession of the heroine, 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua.
When Lyra's best friend Roger disappears, she starts out on an adventure to rescue him, finding herself on a journey that leads her to kingdoms inhabited by armoured ice bears, witches, allies and enemies, and learning more about Dust, which is the key to discovering alternative worlds.
Nicole Kidman is simply dazzling as the glamorous and manipulative scientist Mrs Coulter, but the film belongs to newcomer Dakota Blue Richards who is charming as the gutsy and heroic young Lyra Belacqua. Daniel Craig as the secretive Lord Asriel appears only briefly, but there's promise of more of him to come. Hopefully there will also be more of Eva Green as the witch Serafina Pekkala, and Sam Elliott as the Texas airman Lee Scoresby.
The Golden Compass looks great, creating a convincing enough science fiction-like fantasy world and the special effects are up to scratch, especially the ice bears.
Where the film lets itself down is with the storytelling. The story has been simplified to make sure we learn everything we need to know about this parallel world and its characters and that it is understandable to a younger audience, but not enough weight has been given to the philosophical bent. The result is a story that feels rushed, only touches on the basics, and other than our heroine Lyra, is packed with characters we don't really get to know. On the bright side, now the introductions are over, the sequel will hopefully let rip.
