"THE GOLDEN COMPASS"
Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards
Released: Dec 7, 2007

WATCH THE TRAILER

IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN. Another top-read fantasy trilogy has yielded a movie filled with new special effects, new characters, new conflicts, and a new world.

Chris Weitz’s adaptation of the first installment of Philip Pullman’s "His Dark Materials" trilogy, "The Golden Compass," lets readers of the book experience life in Pullman’s world up close while still providing entertainment for people unfamiliar with the story.

The story takes place in a parallel universe. Real horseless carriages fill the streets instead of cars. Zeppelins serve as the quickest way of transportation. Armored bears inhabit the Arctic.

Witches, although never seen by most common folk, occupy the skies. Evil spirits are actually a cause for concern. People’s souls walk alongside them in animal representations called daemons, which don’t settle into a permanent animal form until puberty. And the Church, the Magisterium, is threatening to dominate the world.

"The Golden Compass" follows yet another story of an orphan, in this case 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua, played by Dakota Blue Richards, who must save the world with the help of many allies who are made along the way.

The story, however, does not fail to offer some unique components, such as the bulk of the story taking place up in the icy North (Pullman's novel was titled "Northern Lights" in Britain) and Lyra’s alethiometer: a rare symbol-reading device that tells the truth and which only Lyra can read.

Lyra’s allies include a huge armored bear named Iorek Brynison (voice by Ian McKellen) who pledges his alliance to Lyra; a witch queen, Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green); and the Gyptians, who are nomadic boat people.

With these friends, along with her powerful uncle, Lord Asriel, played by Daniel Craig, you might say that Lyra is in good hands, but then you have obviously not seen her opponents.

It’s not always such a good idea to get on the bad side of the Church, but in Lyra’s world it might be the ethical thing to do. The Church, called the Magisterium, is on a mission to help people by “telling them what to do.” In other words, they want to have complete power over the people by controlling their thoughts.

It also doesn’t help that one of the most powerful people working for the Magisterium, Mrs. Coulter, played by Nicole Kidman, is on a desperate hunt to find Lyra and will even go as far as to use dangerous spy bugs to locate her.

Another action that displays the corrupt ways of the Magisterium is the experiments that they are doing on kidnapped children and their daemons, and two of these children just so happen to be Lyra’s good friends, Roger (Ben Walker) and Billy Costa (Charlie Rowe).

The plot of the story represents both our future and our past. Characters dress in a more evolved fashion of what our society dressed in many years ago, but the type of research going on can easily represent what our future generations will be doing. This idea of there being other worlds is not only regarded as a myth for the people in Lyra’s world, but something on the point of discovery.

The technology in “The Golden Compass” can also be regarded as both more and less advanced. Even though they don’t have cars and planes, they have other means of transportation that are just as effective, such as zeppelins, which are portrayed as big balloon-type structures with fancy gadgets propelling them in the back.

The casting for “The Golden Compass” is another aspect worth mentioning. Craig accurately portrays Lord Asriel’s dominating presence, while Kidman easily fills the role of a sweetly evil villain. Richards does a good job in representing Lyra’s unique but stubborn personality by showing casual indifference to multiple obstacles, which Lyra, through fast thinking and smooth talking, manages to overcome.

“The Golden Compass” is yet another fantasy movie, however, that is way over the audience’s head. Despite the elaborate special effects that make you want to jump right into their world, the story moves too fast to be coherent.

Important aspects of the plot are not explained, and if they are, the next scene comes in too quickly for the audience to take in what they have just seen and heard. The only way I could tell what was going on was from my knowledge of the book.

This is not helped by the fact that the characters besides Lyra, Mrs. Coulter, and Lord Asriel are not very well developed. There seems to be no way to relate to the other characters that had such a big part in the book.

Even though the special effects are worth seeing on the big screen, I would recommend that you wait for "The Golden Compass" to come out on DVD to see it. If you are looking for a way to entertain yourself, I strongly recommend that you just read the book. I guarantee you that this will be far more entertaining.

"The Golden Compass" is currently playing at the Goodrich Savoy 16 Theatres, 232 W. Burwash, Savoy, and the GKC Beverly 18, 910 Meijers Drive, Champaign.

"The Golden Compass" AT A GLANCE

• Starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards
• Directed by: Chris Weitz
• Written by: Philip Pullman (novel) and Chris Weitz (screenplay)
• Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Family/Fantasy/Thriller
• Rated: PG-13
• Runtime: 113 min
• Release date: Dec. 7, 2007
• Summary: In a parallel universe, young orphan Lyra Belacqua travels to the icy wastelands of the North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.
• Now showing: GKC Beverly 18, Goodrich Savoy 16
• Showtimes: Click here
• External sites: IMDb entry, official site
• Gargoyle A&E Hitlist: Click here