"The Golden Compass" garnered a significant amount of public attention in recent months. It wasn't because of New Line's marketing strategy, calling it the next "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, or because of its superb computer-generated images (CGI) or because of the "it" actors who had signed onto the project.
Instead, the anti-organized religion theme that runs throughout the "His Dark Materials" trilogy sparked a resounding backlash from the religious right.
Director Chris Weitz anticipated this public outrage and removed any reference to the Christian religion or God, referring simply to the Magisterium. This tactic intended to draw a more moderate crowd to the theater - and the movie's box office success is key, as the possibility of a second and third movie is based on how well the first performs. Unfortunately, the move didn't stop the onslaught of Christian ranting and solicited an angry response from devoted actual fans of Philip Pullman's trilogy.
"The Golden Compass" is the story of Lyra Belacqua (played by Dakota Blue Richards), a young orphan girl living at Jordan College, where her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), placed her. She divides her time between playing with her servant friend, Roger (Ben Walker), and getting into trouble, despite the warnings of her daemon, the external animal manifestation of her soul, Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore).
After overhearing a conversation between Lord Asriel and the board of Jordan College about Dust and its mysterious workings, the beautiful Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman) arrives to take Lyra from the confines of Jordan College. Before she leaves, however, the Master of Jordan College (Jack Shepherd) gives Lyra an alethiometer, also known as a golden compass, which is used to distinguish the truth from lies.
After Lyra receives this gift, she begins to see that Mrs. Coulter is not as angelic as she appears. Lyra escapes when she discovers that the Gobblers, who kidnap children, have her friend Roger. She embarks on a number of adventures that include sea-faring Gyptians (modern-day pirates), witch clans, armored polar bears, a flying ship and a trip to Bollvangar, the place where the kidnapped children are being held.
The film does many things well; the design of Jordan College, Svalbard (a kingdom of armored polar bears) and Bollvangar are all depicted exactly as the book describes. The CGI of the daemons is charming and funny and captures the human essence that a daemon is supposed to represent.
Richards does a fantastic job in her first acting production, especially considering that nearly 90 percent of her scenes involve CGI. Kidman delivers another standout performance as the deliciously evil Coulter; the other big stars that the marketing relied on - Daniel Craig, Eva Green as the witch Serafina Pekkala and Sam Elliott as the cowboy aeronaut Lee Scoresby - are only in the film for five minutes each.
The film suffers from its mission: taking an incredibly complex story with multiple fantastical elements and squeezing it into a running time of less than two hours. Therefore, the portion of the audience who hasn't read the books leaves feeling confused and without a full understanding of the purpose of daemons or what Dust really is. On the other hand, those who have read the books are happy that the story was adapted to the screen with little changes made - except the entire ending - but are disappointed with the emphasis on action rather than the story.
Fans of the books will also be disappointed with the ending of the movie in that it completely ignores the last 50 pages, the part of the story that many consider to be the climax leading up to the next two novels.
Wietz is not to blame for this, but rather the small budget allocated by New Line - especially considering the irony that they marketed it as the next "Lord of the Rings."
The film is fun to watch due to its mix of humor, love, friendship and suspense. Many scenes in this film are dark, showing that this movie is not just made for children. Fans of the trilogy will enjoy the film, if only to support the next two books being adapted to the screen to give Pullman's works a chance of being more accurately represented in a second and third movie.
