The Golden Compass: An Uneven but Worthwhile Adaptation
Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman

By Breanne Boland December 13, 2007 Issue

There’s a fad lately of trolling for cinematic gold in the young adult section of the bookstore. Producers seeking the same kind of return the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter films made have gone to all corners of YA fantasy lit, digging up series old and new. So long as the book has a young, precocious main character being thrust into some kind of quandary in a world fraught with magic/technology/mythical creates/etc, it’s fair game.

The Harry Potter books get longer and more complicated as they go on, which has resulted in films that feel less like adaptations and more like filmed synopses. Take all the difficulty of building and explaining a world that parallels our own and add to it enormously complicated themes and ideas, and you have the His Dark Materials trilogy, the first book of which has been adapted into The Golden Compass.

Lyra Belacqua is a young girl in the custody of an Oxford college. Left to run wild, she’s developed into a stubborn, deceitful spitfire of a girl. When her uncle comes to the college to seek a grant for an expedition to the north to investigate a substance called Dust, Lyra is pulled from her safe haven into a world of duplicitous adults, murderous schemes, and social upheaval. Dust is a type of particle that attaches itself to human consciousness. Adults are swarmed by it, while children are untouched. The Magisterium, a moral authority ruling over Lyra’s alternative world, seeks to banish Dust, thus banishing sin.

Author Philip Pullman is an avowed atheist, and his books do carry strong anti-theocratic messages. However, the general theme of the books is to look at the intentions behind those who would shape the world showing wisdom and experiences are nothing to be feared. It elevates the ostensibly young adult series to something that’s captured many grown readers. However, in order to appeal to a wider audience, this subtext is further muted, leaving a somewhat clunky feeling of bad versus good.

The film gets a number of things right — the casting is extraordinary. Having such a story rest on a young central character is always a gamble, but Dakota Blue Richards perfectly embodies defiant, confused Lyra. Daniel Craig uses the menace and intensity that served him well in Casino Royale to make a truly intimidating, driven scientist, and Nicole Kidman’s capacity to be beautiful, fragile, and cold makes her Mrs. Coulter a quietly frightening presence. The supporting parts are similarly well cast, making each new introduction delightful.

The trouble is there are a lot of introductions. On the page, Pullman had time and space to explain the various social factions in his created world. Here, if the audience isn’t familiar with the books, there’s a great risk of this film being 113 minutes worth of, “Who? What now? Who are they? Iceland? Bears?” What creates an intricate world on paper can create a mass of confusion on the screen. Selective editing could have helped, but considering this film comes with the potential of two sequels, there was only so much snipping that could be done.

However, the suspenseful parts are incredibly tense, and even when the story is not as well explored as could be, it leaves a feeling of wanting more. This world of zeppelins and people with external souls embodied as animals is exciting and decidedly different. It isn’t a perfect start, but it shows us enough possibility for the rest of the story to be tremendous.

Bottom line: a visually sumptuous introduction to a new world

Coming Attractions

Dec. 14
I Am Legend - So nice that the great story by Richard Matheson has a chance to move beyond the abysmal Omega Man. Will Smith has always been a good butt kicker, but he looks to be moving into subtler territory here as the last man in a world overrun by vampires.

Dec. 21
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - The spooky team of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter take on the ghoulish musical about the vengeful barber and his meat-pie baking accomplice.

Charlie Wilson’s War - Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts drawl their way through a movie that puts a lightweight veneer on an event made even more serious by its recent resurgence in world events.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets - I laugh every time I see this trailer. “I’m gonna kidnap the president of the United States.” Oh my God. He is. Nicolas Cage is going to kidnap the president in yet another film about reading conspiracies into history.

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