The Golden Compass (Starring: Kathy Bates, John Bett) - $14.99
I've never read the original books by author Philip Pullman, but I heard much about them leading up to the release of this much anticipated film adaptation. One of the things I hate most about such pre-hype for a film like this is that you can't help but form biased opinions about the success or failure of the project even though you've yet to see it with your own eyes. Given that the original books were written as an expression of Mr. Pullman's atheist beliefs, which though I disagree with, I have the utmost respect for, and having heard that the movie had been changed to downplay that particular angle, I was afraid that what would be left would be a watered down, generic fantasy with a lot of special effects and action but little or no depth. So I'm happy to say that when I finally saw this film the other night, I was pleasantly surprised.
First off, one of the gripes I do have with the film is that I'm not sure that it ever really provides the audience with a full understanding of what's at stake. We quickly learn that on this world, daemons are living, physical manifestations of a person's soul that walk alongside their human counterparts, appearing in animal form. There is also reference to Dust, which is believed to connect this world with the many other parallel worlds out there, and which is somehow related to why a child's daemon can change form at will but an adult's cannot. Lord Asriel, played in the film by current James Bond star Daniel Craig, believes that he can use this discovery as a way to travel between worlds. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter, portrayed in a wonderfully scary way by Nicole Kidman, represents the Magisterium, an organization that seeks to, for some unexplained reason, control people through their beliefs. The Magisterium also has been kidnapping children in an evil plot involving the children's daemons. Lyra, portrayed by Dakota Blue Richards, is Lord Asriel's niece, an orphan being raised at Oxford, who is given a device which is capable of discerning the truth of things. Lyra, along with her alethiometer, or golden compass, proves to be a child prophesied long ago who will ultimately determine the future of everyone.
While I can sort of fill in the gaps on my own, I never felt satisfied that I had been given a firm explanation for the Magisterium and the full implications of their plan. I suspect that this is the point where the removal of any anti-religious content may have left a gap in the story, a missing piece that was left ambiguous rather than filling it with something contrived. That absence, along with parts of the story early on that felt a bit rushed, keep me from giving the story 5 stars. But it is beautiful visually, in some ways even more so than Lord of the Rings. The story is certainly more than exciting enough for the young and young at heart, and if you pay close attention, even with the missing allusions to the books original undercurrent, you can sense the message is still there, and I felt that was a very big plus.
I will definitely be looking forward to the anticipated second film in the trilogy, and I think once you've seen it, so will you.
