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The Golden Compass Review
» Review
The Golden Compass Review
When Lord of the Rings became such a smash success, we all knew it was inevitable that the studios would go hunting for other fantasy novel franchises to develop into films. Eragon and Narnia are two such examples… and most figured that The Golden Compass (From the His Dark Materials series) would get done… and sure enough they announced it was coming with none other than Nicole Kidman taking the lead (sort of).
To be honest, with Kidman and Daniel Craig featured so heavily in a fantasy epic movie based on a successful book series, I’ve been pretty underwhelmed with the amount of buzz I’ve sensed for the film. Not as many people talking about it as I would have expected. Personally I haven’t exactly been blown away by the trailers or ads either. Seems the PR companies have been putting more effort into manufacturing fake “controversy” for the movie than they did for the actual marketing campaign. But that’s neither here nor there.
THE GENERAL IDEA
In a parallel universe to our own and thousands of others, another world exists where each person’s soul or spirit walks beside them manifested as an animal spirit or avatar that they call “demons”. This world is ruled by the authority known as “The Magisterium” who are basically the representation of the church (please note, I’m talking about how it is represented in the movie… not the books) who have dictated the world’s understanding of the the universe for centuries. Daniel Craig discovers truths about the universe that directly contradict that teachings of The Magisterium which pits the forces of the authority on a quest to stop Craig from proving his theories.
In the midst of all this, an old artifact, the golden compass, is passed to a young girl who is Craig’s niece. The Compass has to power to show the truth to whoever can read it (problem is that no one can read it… except this child). The girl embarks on a quest to save other children who have gone missing and finds herself caught up and at the very center of a brewing war between the Magisterium and those who stand against them.
THE GOOD
Visually the movie is just breathtaking. Everything from the costume, the city streets, the landscapes right down to the interior decorating of the offices and apartments. Such imagination and creativity went into making the world invoke a sense of wonder and awe. They made the world feel so much like our own, and yet so very different.
With each person in the world having their own demon (the animal spirits) you can imagine the screen getting quite cluttered with loads of unnecessary characters (each demon really is its own full personality character). But the film uses them each in a marvelous way… all with their own distinct personalities and designs. The “performances” brought out of each of them was an asset to the film rather than a distraction.
The mythology of the world the movie inhabits was very rich. he Magisterium, the animal spirits, Dust, alternate universes, polar bear warriors, witches… it’s all very vast and creates a wonderful playground for our imaginations to dwell in for a couple of hours. Sometimes fantasy films do a great job of coming up with a solid narrative, but don’t create an imaginative world for the story to live and breath in. Golden Compass succeeds on this level.
The Polar Bears. The nobel warriors in the world completely knocked my socks off. Ian McKellen does a masterful job voicing the mighty Lorek Byrnison, an exiled Bear warrior who joins the young girl on her quest and swears to protect and aid her. His side story was (to me anyway) the very best part of this movie in terms of story AND adventure AND action. Every single moment Lorek is on screen Golden Compass is fun to watch.
THE BAD
Sadly, the CONCEPT of the Magisterium in the film ends up being a lot more fun and interesting that the actual characters themselves. It’s always a shame when movies take a good idea for “bad guys” and just ruin them by making them so over the top “evil” that they end up being just a cheesy annoyance when on screen rather than the commanding presence they should be while instilling a sense of dread or fear. The members and agents of The Magisterium play like they should be wearing a big black top hat, twirling their mustaches while laughing “Muha ha ha haaaaaaa”.
Without question the worst part of this film… is the story telling. No one, no place, no object and no “myth” or “legend” in the film had any soul whatsoever. We are introduced to great concepts or great characters or great stories, but then we are simply whisked away to something else without ever giving any depth or soul to the various elements. We meet John Faa (the King of the Gyptians), but we see nothing of the esence of his character. We just meet him, told who he is, then he has some lines, and he’s then abandoned. Other than Lorek the Bear, no characters in the film have any sort of depth at all, as the film quickly skips ahead without giving any richness to what we’ve seen up to that point. The story of the film was great, the world in which the story is told is perfect…. but the story telling failed. Or to put it another way:
It felt like I was watching the Cliff Notes version of the movie… but it was still 2 hours long.
OVERALL
A beautiful looking film with a rich world, mythology and terrific story, almost spoiled by director Chris Weitz’s inability to tell the story in a compelling or engaging way (which is odd since he did both so well in “About A Boy”). The movie still does entertain on several levels, and there is certainly all the building blocks there for the franchise to improve and build on. In general I liked the movie, but I’ll probably forget about it tomorrow. I give The Golden Compass a 6 out of 10
YOU CAN ALSO WATCH OUR REVIEW HERE
I’m going to see it on Sunday, expecting something totally hollow that looks nice. Any box office predictions on this one?
I rely on you guys (and somewhat of others) to see if a movie is worth seeing right away or not. I have decided, based on the same consistency of comments about the lack of depth, that i will save my 9 bucks this week by skipping this movie.
I will buy food instead.
And i thank you for making sure i don’t go hungry.
Take a listen, folks. THE GOLDEN COMPASS is discussed…
http://audio.nowlive.com:443/stream/miniplayer/100251498-071207-431197078180.mp3
good review, ill prolly leave this for a rental instead.
For once i would like to see the hero kid in a fantasy epic just die in the first real violent encounter to prove how useless they actualy would be in any sort of world saving mission, i see these movies with kids defying 50 foot decepticons and armies of evil witches and just think ‘how’?.
kids are to dam overpowered in movies!
leon had the right idea, so did t2. keep them kids out the way and let the real heroes do their shit!
the books were everything that potter wasn’t… thoughtful and provocative and generally entertaining for the adults as well as kids. The films will no doubt be everthing I expected, anti-church films dumbed down for the american audience and the soul taken out of the books in place of all out action. I await with dread…. p.s. Britain still rules the waves with kids fantasy (/fantasy in general).. lotr, potter, narnia, pullman….. all british.. not to mention the railways children and other posh-public school toss!) someone name a decent american kids writer…. I dares ya! :D
I was really looking forward to this movie, then i found out the director of American Pie was directing this and i kinda lost interest. Guess i’ll wait for the DVD and look forward to Prince Caspian instead
was flippin thru channels and landed on some religious show reviewing this movie. It was pretty hilarious. He just completely bashed the film in everyway and said that it praised Satan as a revolutionary and that the “Majestry” represents God and that God is the oppressor and the rebels are the actual good guy.
After watching that review…I really want to see this movie. Haha. Opposite effect of what the reviewer wanted. He went on to say, if you must see a movie this Christmas go rent Lord of the Rings. Pfft, I hated Lord of the Rings. Far too slow and boring imo. So perhaps based on this review I’ll like The Golden Compass since you guys said it bounces around quickly.
Brad, “Megatron would skull rape you in real life” is not a positive message to send to our nations youth.
bassturd, I think they santized those parts out of the movie. You might have better luck reading the books. If your looking to piss off the religious just find a gay couple to adopt you.
oldshell, wasn’t madelyn l’engel american?
I saw a free screening on Tuesday and was not impressed. It plays it WAY too safe in regards to the controversial material, and the film is much too epic to be crammed into such a short running time. This is a rare movie that could benefit from an expanded version, because characters are introduced so rapidly that keeping up with them is difficult. Daniel Craig and Eva Green are BARELY in this film, partcularly Green. Kidman rocks, but she isn’t given enough time to really develop Coulter. Dakota Blue Richards was pretty bad at times as Lyra. Her line delivery felt forced as hell.
http://www.stalepopcorn.co.uk/movie-reviews-theatrical/movie-review-the-golden-compass/
I hated every second of it, personnally.
the music was lame, the photography was bland,
I agree with John’s review. the only thing that doesn’t have a “daemon” in this film, is the film itself, it desperatly needs a soul… NewLine tried to come up with a new fresh cocktail using the same ingredients as LOTR… complete mess of a film… the ending is a joke! the characters explain everything that is going to happen in the sequel…PLEASE!! … and it doesn’t look too interesting by the sound of it neither, worst teasing ever! probably the worst film I’ve seen in years: since HIGHLANDER 2…
Peace!
John, the Bear’s name is Iorek not Lorek.
This illustrates how difficult it is to adapt alternate realities to the screen in a two hour running time. It also highlights the great job done with LOTR.
I think I might enjoy this film after all, I’m a HUGE fan of the books, so the lack of story might do ok by me… Though having said that I also imagine that I will hit the same problems as I did with LOTR, as I was a HUGE fan of those books too, then the second film was just about the worst rendering of the original book I’ve ever seen…
Back to the review – I’m glad to hear the child is bratty, I personally dislike the Lyra character in the books because she’s such a brat, so if they’ve got that right it’s a great start! :)
And as for the second film, it should be good, and daniel if you haven;t read the books then I expect you’ll be in for a surprise as the second book does a lot of random cool stuff :) I’m looking forward to the third one already really! That should be stunning visually :)
RustyJames and oldshell: Madeleine L’Engle was indeed American. Her “Time Trilogy” (she wrote a fourth book in 1986, but after I was older) was my favorite series growing up, and I probably read them close to a dozen times. I’d name Beverly Cleary as my other beloved writer as a child, but that’s a vastly different genre. “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” has more than a little different target audience than LOTR. :-)
@Daniel Larusso
“the only thing that doesn’t have a “daemon” in this film, is the film itself, it desperatly needs a soul”
And the line of the year goes to….seriously, I wish I’d thought of that line when I wrote my review! Nice job, buddy!
I wander if movies like this are targeted mainly at teenagers and young adults. If so, they are placing a lot of money in actors that don’t necessarily appeal to younger views. How many kids actually care about Nicole Kidman, and how many adults are interested in these films. I might go see this show just to write a review, but other than that it will go unseen.
Well the overnight numbers are out. $8.8 for GOLDEN COMPASS.
The New Line executives had better be wearing some REALLY absorbant diapers b/c they’re gonna need em…
DAMN…the overseas revenues had better be off the charts if they want to spin this positively. This film won’t have legs, if word of mouth is any indication.
Yeah, I was all excited about this movie then after seeing the trailers I was just like, “meh…I’ll only go if there’s a group going (which it turned out there wasn’t) or I’ll rent it”.
to Rusty. It’s not that I care to piss people off. It’s that I find it hilarious how tightly wound they are. For fuck sakes it has polar bears with armor that can talk. Gimmie a break.
This movie was entertaining, but the story telling was too rushed. That’s what disturbed me the most.
Maybe the next film will go into depth on the characters, the stories & the prophecies, you never know.
Cheerz
I have to say I agree with the review, as a HUGE fan of the books I felt the film did not do the book justice – a bit of a dissapointment for me as I was really looking forward to it. :(
For me the main problem was that the script hopped all over the place, not staying in one place long enough, maybe a longer running time would of allowed it to be better – a kind of hope the other 2 will be better.
I AM LEGEND is going to seriously eat the fuck outta any (if not all) of its business next weekend. I’m gonna go ahead and guess it chugs out about…$45-50 million.
I Am Legend = Omega Man. I’ll stick with the original, thanks.
It is times like these where, despite being a Christian, and attend a church that is ‘non-denominational’ (but has roots in Pentacostal denomination), I feel slightly embarassed by my own faith. I know born again people who will have zero problem with watching the Harry Potter films and/or reading JK Rowling. However, I should point out a few things. For that matter, not all religious organizations, including some in the Catholic church, are not jumping on the ‘Compass Morality’ bandwagon.
The film, as noted above my many, had watered down the novel from whence it came. The reason being is that it was the “reversal” of Milton’s Paradise Lost, in which Satan (or, rather humanism/athesism/darwinism) is on the side of good and “God” is the side of evil. (Not to mention the author’s ‘rebuttal’ on CS Lewis and the Narnia books) There are many Pullman fans who are not too happy with the adaptation because it left most of this this out and/or skimmed the surface.
Bash all the evengelicals you want to, but it won’t take away Pullman’s interviews while was promoting his books. That is the primary arguement given by church leadership, regardless of demonination. . In recent interviews, such as the one on the Today show, in promoting the film, he seems to have either forgetten what he said, or his contradicting himself. If Pullman had never had that interview with the Washington Post in 2001 where he clearly said : “”I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief” or where he said to the Sydney Morning Herald that his books was about “Killing God”…this contreversy would be almost non-existent.
Where do I stand?
It’s an adaptation; the movie stays or goes, it stands or falls.
All on its own.
Will I go see it?
No- but not for faith based reasons. I’m hesitant because the two leads were in The Invasion.
I think that it’s a dumb, pointless movie that it trying to take over the minds of innocent children and turn them against their religious beliefs. Take my advice and don’t go see it, your giving away your money to people that are literately criticizing peoples religious beliefs and destroying there beliefs. I hate this movie and anyone who enjoys watching this kind of pathetic nonsense. I hope to take my advice and make the right decision. Good day to you.
I totally agree with just about everything you guys said about the movie. It had a few serious problems, however, I actually really enjoyed the movie.
Don’t waste your money on seeing The Golden Compass. It totally stinks and Daniel Craig’s part is very small. It was a stupid hard to follow movie that was very disjointed and had a lame ending that leaves you hanging. The girl next to us yelled out at the end of the movie, “Are you kidding me? That sucks!”.
What is with the matching buzz haircut? lol
theres no point arguing about the part religion plays in this film it is very small and its only a story right?
yes but for me as someone who has read and enjoyed the book i feel similar to a muslim would when someone depicts muhammad no exeggeration the film was discusting from begining to end was an abomination of the novel northen lights 1 out of 10 dont waste your time seeing it you wont like it even if you haven’t read the book it mitgh even be worse
My advice is to save yourself the time and money from seeing The Golden Compass and just read my super-short version:
http://www.the-editing-room.com/goldencompass.html
Really loved this movie.
I may have helped that I had read the book first? They did skip a bit a changed a few things around, but still I was very impressed with this outing. My kids loved it too. So hope it does well overseas and we get the other movies in the series made before to long. (fingers crossed that they release a longer special edition version on DVD too)
Ok, I REALLY dissagree with your movie review. Sure, it was a great visual film, but you cannot just ride along if you know that this movie is made to sell the values of athiesm. The movie could lead children to the books, where the danger lies. As a child of God, I will oppose this movie until Pullman decides to stop this game. Pullman is leading others down his own path of destruction.
The fool says in his heart, “there is no God.”
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
Psalm 14:1-2
For me, fantasy is one of the best genres ever. It gives this sorta awe and wonder during your moment of watching the film. And like Titanic spawned wanna-be love stories like Pearl Harbor and Troy, The Lord of the Rings spawned Narnia, Spiderwick Chronicles, and, of course, The Golden Compass. Now before I say what I thought about the film, I will state what I think about the Catholic church problem. This film was critisized, just as the books were about being athiest. I do not believe so. They say in the film that the worlds were created by Dust. Hello, people!!! It’s a fantasy. You don’t see other authors getting critisized for putting Hendoism in there fantasy books. Now, I am a Christian, but I don’t believe that.
Now, back to my review. After having Eragon come out last Christmas, which was fine but not great, The Golden Compass had a chance of becoming the next best fantasy film. After The Lord of the Rings, New Line Cinema has given us the hope of giving us that same feeling as we did when LOTR came out. Did it? Um…not that much.
Let’s start with the good. They got a good cast for the film. The girl, I kinda had a problem with her in the beginning of the film, but she does a very good job in this movie. Sam Elliot and Ian McKellen were just incredible in this movie. Also the film is visually beautiful, like John said. The visual effects don’t add up to the same level as LOTR, but the Polar Bears are incredible and I want them to tell us more about it.
And now for the bad. As much as I loved the cast, some of their dialogue were pretty weak, especially Nicole Kidman, who I think is incredible. There’s this part where the girl says, “If you value your lives, come no further.” Now, that’s not a bad line in of itself, but when you hear it in the movie, you think, “Man, did someone get info from the Jessica Alba film school or what?” And, just as John stated, this film is souless, because a.) They don’t tell you at all about the place, b.) You have a hard time caring about the characters, and c.) You are rushing from place to place very fast. And for a 2 hour movie, it felt more like 1 hr. and 15 mins. in total. And the worst thing is that the ending was a total cliffhanger. It was like in Star Wars if it ended with them going to the Death Star.
Overall, the movie has great visuals, interesting storyline, and great action, but fails in many ways due to the fact the the director can’t tell the story right. Don’t get me wrong, The Golden Compass is pretty good, but it is flawed.
I give it movie: 6/10