Fanatics Fight Family Fantasy Film (The Golden Compass (DVD))

Member Name: samueltyler

Product:	The Golden Compass (DVD)
Date:	28/01/08 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Special effects, Lyra

Disadvantages: Bland Kidman, poor narrative

*Film only review*

It was the Christian Right that done it! This may have been a phrase you heard when investigating why big budget kid's film 'The Golden Compass' recently flopped at US box office. You see Christian groups in America felt that the original books by Philip Pullman had a decidedly anti-Christian stance to them. This is a little odd to me as the bad guys in 'The Golden Compass' are a group of bigoted, mean spirited, science defying zealots. Personally, I would try not to compare myself to them! Anyway, with an all points bulletin out for all right thinking Christians to boycott this film when the figures were below par the extremists had their victory. Or did they? Perhaps the vast majority of people do not care what they think and instead were put off by the idea of another generic quickly adapted children's book that had nothing new to add to the genre that 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe' had not done two years earlier?

Lyra Belacqua lives in and around Oxford University were she is looked after by the academics on behalf of her Uncle, Lord Asriel. This Oxford is not our own but a parallel universe were every person has a talking animal demon who represents their soul. Children like Lyra have demons that can change like Pan her soul mate. However, adults have a demon that always stays the same. A mysterious group who hold all the power believe that the demon's link to the host is a corrupting influence. Unbeknownst to Lyra their opinions will throw her into a great adventure when her friend disappears and the sinister Miss Coulter arrives to take her away. In her travels Lyra will make lifelong enemies and lifelong friends including disgraced armoured bear warrior Iorek Byrnison. Can Lyra discover the mystery behind the missing children by using her new golden compass?

'The Golden Compass' is by no means a bad film. It is clear from the opening scenes that a lot of money has been spent on getting the look and feel of Pullman's world just right. In terms of visual sheen 'Compass' is up there with the like of 'The Lord of the Rings'. One area that particularly impressed me was the quality of the animal demons. Pan is Lyra's demon and he changes constantly. These animals are able to talk and the cuts between CGI and live action animals are seamless and very impressive. The special effects are probably the highlight of the film as many scenes are given an epic feel by their surroundings. The armoured bear palace is perhaps the best looking section with both the bears themselves and the setting looking impressively realistic.

However, special effects alone do not make for a great film and 'Compass' has many areas were it fails to excel. On the acting front there is only one standout actor, Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra. Richards is a great little actress who adds the spark needed for her character to drag the film forwards. It is this spark that is missing from the rest of the cast. Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel is almost redundant as he has so little to do, but this can not be the excuse for the charisma vacuum that is Nicole Kidman. Once again she blands up the screen, this time as emotionless Miss Coulter. It's lucky for her that the character has no little range, as Kidman has none of her own.

Perhaps the biggest issue I had with the film was the narrative. Based on the first book of Pullman's trilogy, 'The Golden Compass' tries to pack in far too much for it to work. There are elements of the films that are only touched on so that fans of the books can notice their favourite parts. For instance the arrival of the witch is a very short scene that will appeal to fans, but be completely redundant for non-fans and people more interested in a coherent film. There is nothing here to upset any religion except those members of the Church of Cinephiles. I feel that Chris Weitz, the director, would have been better concentrating on the real core sections of the story and ignored some of the wider aspects of the book. Books can reach over 100s of pages; this film is only ninety minutes.

There are a couple of other issues with the film that stopped it from being anything other than a passable 90mins. Firstly, the film is a PG, a rare occurrence nowadays, and I feel that some scenes are far too scary for younger children. Also the film does not end as the book does; in fact the last part is missing. This means that the film ends too abruptly as if they know a sequel will happen and are not too worried. Unfortunately, it's likely that this sequel will never happen so instead we are left with an unfinished film.

Despite its many flaws I still enjoyed myself watching 'The Golden Compass'. This was in no small way due to the performance of Richards, who was very engaging. It is a pretty film to watch and there is enough action to keep you interested. However, the strange narrative and dull co-stars means that it is not a film I would ever want to watch again.



Director: Chris Weitz
Year: 2007
Cert: PG
Starring: Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig

Summary: A decent enough fantasy film that lacks direction