CinePhillyist Reviews... The Golden Compass

Although The Golden Compass is being compared to the Narnia Chronicles in some of the ads, the series that the book it's based on is a part of - Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy - is really the anti-Narnia: equal but exactly opposite to C.S. Lewis' saga of Christian allegory. Some people are saying that The Golden Compass is anti-Catholic - and they're right. The movie doesn't emphasize it as much as the book (those elements were toned down on purpose), and the third book in the series takes it to a whole new level, but it's here all the same. Indeed, as an adaptation, the film is reasonably true to its source in terms of the general themes and the gist of the plot - or at least, having read the book some years ago, I didn't notice anything important missing, although of course certain sections have been inevitably shortened and collapsed to get the thing down to movie length.

The point is, fans of the book need not worry, and others need not worry, either. The film is not going to turn you and your kids into atheists, or Satanists, or anything of that sort. The message is not that the devil is your friend; it's that an authority which seeks to suppress knowledge and crush joy, no matter what form it takes (and yes, in this case it does take the form of a church), is an evil thing, and that's a moral that's hard to disagree with.

And now that we've got that out of the way, how is the film as a piece of entertainment? The answer: fantastic. It's perhaps a bit dark, complex, and violent for your average small child, but it's perfect for anybody in their early teens or older who likes a bit of fantasy, magic, and adventure. Young Dakota Blue Richards is perfectly wonderful in the role of Lyra Belacqua, the wild, willful little girl who comes into possession of the titular magical device, is swept up in a dangerous adventure, and discovers she may be the prophesied savior who will be at the center of an upcoming war. Really the casting and the acting is excellent across the board, with Nicole Kidman blazing across the screen as the beautiful but cold and twisted Mrs. Coulter, and Daniel Craig nailing the (disappointingly small) part of grizzled, defiant adventurer - and uncle to Lyra - Lord Asriel. The sultry, exotic Eva Green was the perfect choice to play witch Serafina Pekkala (even if her part is also a bit small), and Sam Elliott may just have been born to play the part of aerial cowboy Lee Scoresby. Then there's the wonderful little cameo by Christopher Lee, and all the wonderful voice work that gives life to the various computer-animated characters in the film. In Lyra's world, every person is accompanied by a physical manifestation of his/her spirit, which takes the form of an animal. Lyra's Pan is voiced by Freddie Highmore, and Scoresby's jackrabbit Hester is Kathy Bates. But best of all perhaps are the Ians - McKellen as Iorek Byrnison and McShane as Ragnar Sturlusson. They play armored bears, a race of intelligent, war-like polar bears that live up in the frozen north of Lyra's world. And just so you know, the armored bears fight, and it is awesome. The audience I saw the film with even broke out into spontaneous applause at this point in the film. The effects in general are beautiful; the action intense and unrelenting. The editing keeps things at a fast pace, and moves the story along quickly, but not so quickly that you feel things are being rushed or given short shrift. Really the movie tells us just enough and then quickly moves on, as it must in order to fit all the story in.

The film's only flaw is that it occasionally gets a bit corny and ridiculous, especially during Lyra's speech at the end, which is practically a summary of where the next films are headed, so you know what's coming and are ready for the sequels. But overall the thing is just pure entertainment, and a true joy.

Image via Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery