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Watched the Golden Compass last weekend expecting a lot... Armored Grizzlies! Witches! Demons! Adventure! Instead, what we saw was a real head-scratcher...
The Golden Compass (Book One of "His Dark Materials" ) takes place in a universe where people's souls are separate from their bodies, and take the form of daemons... shape-shifting spirits that take animal form... with the form only becoming permanent as the child matures. Through these animal forms, people can interact with "dust", particles of energy with magical properties. They can also detect "dust" and use it via "alethiometers" (the Golden Compass being the last one). The ruling class of this world, the Magisterium, has done its best to squelch any mention of the word "dust", and has labeled it as heresy. Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), of The College, is defiant of the Magisterium, and is on a mission to go to the North to study dust and its uses in traveling between worlds. Lyra, his niece, on the other hand, has been given the last alethiometer, and is trying to use it to find children abducted by the "gobblers"... government agents who are using the abducted children to perform atrocious experiments.
A lot has been said about the anti-Catholic slant of author Philip Pullman's book series. A lot has been done to tone it down for the movie version. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of story and character development has been left on the cutting room floor, too. Aside from the main characters of Lyra and Pan (her "daemon"), most every other character could have been cardboard cut-outs.
Which is a shame, as the performances, what there were of them, were substantial. Nicole Kidman, Eva Green and Ian McShane gave quite some depth to their characters. Ian McKellen, trapped in the body of an Ice Bear, gave a good vocal performance, and the bear was a palpable character, himself, but none of them, save for Kidman, had enough of those moments or scenes to really flesh out their characters or stretch their creative muscles.
The Ice Bear duel was nice, though.
Instead, we are led on a wild ride through the book, spoonfed the story, and are spat out at the other end without the benefit of a climactic build-up or much else besides.
Which is a shame. The visual effects are beautiful... the world of the Golden Compass is well-textured, and the science and society are well fleshed-out, providing a rich background against which the tale can be told. It's just that the script itself feels more like a fan-fiction adaptation of the book rather than an inventive and creative effort in-and-of itself. I've yet to read the book, but I'm sure it's a hundred times better.
Overall? 6/10. Worth a watch, just to find out what happens... and in hopes that the sequel will be much better... but if you're a fan of modern fantasy, you're probably better off reading the book.
The Golden Compass (Book One of "His Dark Materials" ) takes place in a universe where people's souls are separate from their bodies, and take the form of daemons... shape-shifting spirits that take animal form... with the form only becoming permanent as the child matures. Through these animal forms, people can interact with "dust", particles of energy with magical properties. They can also detect "dust" and use it via "alethiometers" (the Golden Compass being the last one). The ruling class of this world, the Magisterium, has done its best to squelch any mention of the word "dust", and has labeled it as heresy. Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), of The College, is defiant of the Magisterium, and is on a mission to go to the North to study dust and its uses in traveling between worlds. Lyra, his niece, on the other hand, has been given the last alethiometer, and is trying to use it to find children abducted by the "gobblers"... government agents who are using the abducted children to perform atrocious experiments.
A lot has been said about the anti-Catholic slant of author Philip Pullman's book series. A lot has been done to tone it down for the movie version. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of story and character development has been left on the cutting room floor, too. Aside from the main characters of Lyra and Pan (her "daemon"), most every other character could have been cardboard cut-outs.
Which is a shame, as the performances, what there were of them, were substantial. Nicole Kidman, Eva Green and Ian McShane gave quite some depth to their characters. Ian McKellen, trapped in the body of an Ice Bear, gave a good vocal performance, and the bear was a palpable character, himself, but none of them, save for Kidman, had enough of those moments or scenes to really flesh out their characters or stretch their creative muscles.
The Ice Bear duel was nice, though.
Instead, we are led on a wild ride through the book, spoonfed the story, and are spat out at the other end without the benefit of a climactic build-up or much else besides.
Which is a shame. The visual effects are beautiful... the world of the Golden Compass is well-textured, and the science and society are well fleshed-out, providing a rich background against which the tale can be told. It's just that the script itself feels more like a fan-fiction adaptation of the book rather than an inventive and creative effort in-and-of itself. I've yet to read the book, but I'm sure it's a hundred times better.
Overall? 6/10. Worth a watch, just to find out what happens... and in hopes that the sequel will be much better... but if you're a fan of modern fantasy, you're probably better off reading the book.
