Movie & Entertainment Blog: THE GOLDEN COMPASS

Synopsis:

Based on author Philip Pullman's bestselling and award-winning novel,'The Golden Compass' tells the first story in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. 'The Golden Compass' is an exciting fantasy adventure, set in an alternative world where people's souls manifest themselves as animals, talking bears fight wars, and Gyptians and witches co-exist. At the center of the story is Lyra (played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), a 12-year-old girl who starts out trying to rescue a friend who's been kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers - and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well. 'The Golden Compass' stars an ensemble cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, and Ian McShane. The film is written and directed by Chris Weitz (About A Boy, Antz) and produced by Deborah Forte and Bill Carraro (Frequency). It is executive produced by Andrew Miano and Paul Weitz (In Good Company).

Review by Roger Ebert (Chicago - Sun Times) :

"The Golden Compass" is a darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films. It springs from the same British world of quasi-philosophical magic, but creates more complex villains and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging. Teenagers may be absorbed and younger children may be captivated; some kids in between may be a little conflicted, because its implications are murky.

They weren't murky in the original 1995 novel, part of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, a best seller in Britain, less so here. Pullman's evil force, called the Magisterium in the books, represents organized religion, and his series is about no less than the death of God, who he depicts as an aged, spent force. This version by New Line Cinema and writer-director Chris Weitz ("About a Boy") leaves aside religion and God, and presents the Magisterium as sort of a Soviet dictatorship or Big Brother. The books have been attacked by American Christians over questions of religion; their popularity in the U.K. may represent more confident believers whose response to other beliefs is to respond, rather than suppress.

For most families, such questions will be beside the point. Attentive as I was, I was unable to find anything anti-religious in the movie, which works above all as an adventure. The film centers on a young girl named Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), in an alternative universe vaguely like Victorian England. An orphan raised by the scholars of a university not unlike Oxford or Cambridge, she is the niece of Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), who entrusts her with the last surviving Alethiometer, or Golden Compass, a device that quite simply tells the truth. The Magisterium has a horror of the truth, because it represents an alternative to its thought control; the battle in the movie is about no less than man's preservation of free will.

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Review by Kirk Honeycutt (The Hollywood Reporter)

With the glory of "The Lord of the Rings" cycle now fading, New Line looks to "The Golden Compass," the first of a projected series of films derived from Philip Pullman's widely read trilogy, "His Dark Materials," to get the studio back in the fantasy game.

This film just might do the trick. Because Pullman's emphasis is more on youthful heroes, beguiling magic and fantastical landscapes and less on the wars and machismo of "Rings," "Golden Compass" is a "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter," in other words, than "Beowulf."

Boxoffice looks substantial. Adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, "Golden Compass" possesses its own movie wizardry, ranging from terrific stunts and CG critters to otherworldly sets and all sorts of 2-D and 3-D visual effects. It's an imagination overload, yet the film maintains a steady course through the FX mire with a strong story line and viable characters at every turn.

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Review by Beth Accomando :

Ever since I saw the giant armored polar bear at this past summer’s Comic-Con, I have been looking forward to The Golden Compass (opening December 7 throughout San Diego). I was not familiar with the books but that big polar bear inspired my imagination and appealed to the kid in me. The Golden Compass (originally published in England as Northern Lights in 1995) is the first book in Philip Pullman’s trilogy called His Dark Materials (the name is derived from a line in Milton’s Paradise Lost). The film arrives from New Line, the studio behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the studio would like nothing more than to have Pullman’s books launch a new, lucrative franchise. The books were hugely popular in England but have not caught on to quite the same degree here.

The Golden Compass involves a young girl named Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) who lives in a world where people’s souls are manifested outside of their bodies in creatures called dæmons, animal spirits that accompany them throughout their lives. As a child, this dæmon can change form from one creature to another reflecting a child’s still developing personality. But as a person gets older, the dæmon settles into one form. Lyra’s dæmon is Pantalaimon, or Pan (voiced by Finding Neverland’s Freddie Highmore) and more often than not he appears as an ermine.

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Screenshot :

Trailer :

Overview :

Director: Chris Weitz
Writers: Philip Pullman (novel)/Chris Weitz (screenplay)
Release Date: 7 December 2007 (USA)
Genre: Action / Adventure / Drama / Family / Fantasy / Thriller more
Awards: 5 nominations
Cast :