The Golden Compass

Now that I sat on my lazy ass and failed to review The Golden Compass for over 2 weeks, it has become clear that no one has gone out to see it. That’s disappointing. It may not have been the best movie of the year but it in no way should have been avoided. This was a fun fantasy story that was the first part of a trilogy that will probably never be finished in theaters. Maybe the foreign box office will be big enough to make up for crappy Americans who would rather see Alvin and the Chipmunks.

They keep trying and they keep failing to recreate the success of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises. The Golden Compass has probably been the closest in quality to come through so far. The girl that they found to portray Lyra was fantastic casting. And since the first story completely hinges on her, Dakota Blue Richards is able to shoulder the weight. You have to be able to believe her as she doesn’t back down against every single adult, animal, and magical whatever she faces throughout the film. They were even able to capture the relationship between Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon, which is the key to this story. The rest of the cast pops in and out and never really has a chance to create a memorable performance. Daniel Craig is nicely cast as the powerful Lord Asriel but he has about 10 minutes of screen-time. Nicole Kidman pulls off Mrs. Coulter but once again she pops in for a stretch in the middle of the film and then falls away again before showing up again at the end. Worse than those two is Eva Green because she only gets about 5 minutes as the witch queen. If I were forced to pick, I would say that Ian McKellan delivers the best performance as the voice of the armored bear Iorek. Still, the supporting characters are all talented folks so the movie clips along.

I guess in an attempt to please a large audience, and by that I mean not piss of Christians, the religious plots of the story are toned down. Its still clear whom the Magisterium is supposed to represent but it is kept so far in the background that it never really plays a significant role. Mrs. Coulter is the villain of the piece. And anyways the volatile material is in the second and third book of the trilogy, that's when we learn about Lord Asriel’s assault on heaven. The Golden Compass does touch on daemons and dust having something to do with the souls and original sin and a bunch of other stuff but who cares there are talking polar bears fighting each other. There is an evil golden monkey. There are witches flying around with bows and arrows. When Lyra leads a bunch kids out of danger they are confronted by a mercenary army and her response is to spit in their face. Sam Elliott plays another version of the Marlboro Man that he has played many times before but this time he flies a freaking balloon. And goddamnit how can you complain when the bear king is voiced Al Swearengen? This is a fun movie, why do people got to ruin a good time by turning everything into a life and death religious struggle?

The best praise I can give The Golden Compass is that after seeing the movie I went out and bought the books. I doubt I will ever get a chance to see The Subtle Knife or The Amber Spyglass on the bigscreen, but I won't hold that against The Golden Compass. A good movie was made even if no one wanted to see it.

7 out of 10