Film Gecko

DVD Review: The Golden Compass

by Jane Boursaw on April 28th, 2008

Want to escape into another world? Then see this DVD, based on the first book of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. You’ll wish you could travel into the screen, wander through the Old World cities, float gently across the horizon in a sky ferry, and converse with splendid creatures. It’s a universe that’s parallel to our own, but there are evil forces at work there.

The story revolves around Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), a young girl who lives an extraordinary life as a ward of the distinguished Jordan College. Fearless and scrappy, Lyra loves trooping around the city with her daemon, Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore), a small, ever-changing animal that serves as a constant voice of reason. In Lyra’s world, a person’s soul lives on the outside of their body, in the form of a daemon – an animal spirit that accompanies them through life. To be separated from your daemon is unthinkably painful, as we learn later in the movie.

More after the jump…

Lyra’s world is dominated by the Magisterium, an organization which seeks to control all of humanity (thus abolishing free will), and whose greatest threat is the last remaining Golden Compass and the one child destined to possess it. You can see where this is going. The Compass is given to Lyra as a gift by the Master of Jordan College (Jack Shepherd). Also known as an alethiometer, it’s a mystical and powerful device that can tell the truth, reveal what others wish to hide, and foreshadow — and even change — the future.

Lyra’s fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), appears at the college with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photos of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis. He suspects that it’s part of an alternate universe. The Magisterium is not happy about any of this, and will do anything to stop Asriel from investigating. Of course, he immediately sets off for the far North.

Meanwhile, rumors of children disappearing and being taken north become terrifyingly real when Lyra’s best friend Roger (Ben Walker) goes missing. Lyra and Roger have sworn an oath to rescue each other, should the need arise. And when a woman appears at the college – scientist and world traveler Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman) – Lyra signs on as her assistant. Together, they head north in a fantastic floating zeppelin.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Coulter isn’t the pleasant person she appears to be. In fact, Lyra finds herself drawn into a trap designed to take from her the one thing she possess that the Magisterium seeks – the Golden Compass.

On the journey, Lyra breaks away from Mrs. Coulter and embarks on her own adventure to rescue Roger and the other kids, setting in motion a plan to stop the Magisterium. She finds herself in the protection of a tribe of seafaring Gyptians led by Lord Faa (Jim Carter), Ma Costa (Clare Higgins), and Farder Coram (Tom Courtenay).

They join forces with the mysterious witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), Texas airman Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), and great armored bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), who pledges to serve Lyra in her campaign until she prevails.

In terms of casting and production, it’s hard not to see similarities to The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings, and, in fact, some of the same people worked on these movies. Try as I might, my thoughts strayed to Saruman whenever Christopher Lee was on screen, and I “heard” Gandolf every time Iorek spoke.

It also occurred to me that even though the main character is a young girl, I never really felt fearful for her – perhaps because she’s so fearless and independent, a real problem-solver. This is both good and bad. Good in that she’s a great role model for young girls. Bad in that it diminishes some of the peril of the storyline.

The other characters are fun and interesting. No one plays the smoothly cool woman like Kidman, nor does anyone do the rugged, twinkle-eyed westerner like Elliott.

For me, the best part of this movie is the fantastic production, with such detail in everything – from the Old World regality of the city to the stark landscape of the North. Fantastic and splendid are the best words to describe it. And, of course, the idea of a parallel universe is always intriguing.

As for the anti-God controversy surrounding the film, I just didn’t see it. Religious groups, including the Catholic League, called for a boycott of the film, charging that the trilogy is anti-Christian and that the third book of the series, The Amber Spyglass, culminates in an epic battle to destroy God.

It’s true that Pullman has gone on record as an atheist, not only doubting God’s existence but charging that organized religion has been an instrument of evil in world history. In view of the religion-based terrorism hanging over our world, it’s hard not to dispute this theory.

Still, had I not read anything about Pullman or the boycott, I would never have associated it with this movie. Instead, I saw a film with a familiar storyline of good vs. evil, of an unseen force watching over creatures long forgotten by the rest of society. This seems decidedly Christian and God-like to me.

DVD EXTRAS:

One-Disc Edition: Animated menus, 16×9 widescreen or 4×3 fullscreen version, English & Spanish subtitles, closed captions, sneak peeks of upcoming New Line films.

Two-Disc Special Edition: Feature-length audio commentary from writer/director Chris Weitz; eleven “Making-of” featurettes including “The Armoured Bears,” “The Adaptation,” and “Production Design”; theatrical and teaser trailers; 16×9 widescreen version; English & Spanish subtitles; closed captions; galleries.

PARENTS SHOULD KNOW:

Profanity: Mild, a few “hells”

Sex/ Nudity: None

Violence/Gore: Several scenes depict children in peril (grabbed by thugs, used for lab experiments, and severed from their daemons, causing pain for both); a child character is chased by thugs; two bears battle to the death; a character is nearly poisoned; warriors and their wolves shoot at and pursue a character; mechanical “spy-flies” pursue a character and try to poison her; a character hits her daemon in anger; battle scenes include guns, arrows, swords, clubs, and hand-to-hand combat. Surprisingly, though, not much blood is shown.

Theatrical Trailer: