Compass Doesn't Stay on Course

"The Golden Compass" has a lot going for it, despite following a lot of the fantasy formulas, it has a very unique and magical world that follows its own rules and separates itself from being a "Lord of the Rings" carbon copy. It also has an intelligent point of view which despite the fact of garnering some unnecessary controversy from the catholic church makes sense, and also makes this world a little bit more complex than most fantasy stories.

The story follows a young girl named Lyra who lives in a world different from ours. In Lyra's world, people don't have souls living in their bodies, but instead have them represented in animal form called daemons. For children, daemons can change shape at will but when they reach their adulthood, they stay as one form. Daemons along with some mysterious dust (Which I don't really understand the significance of yet) are at the center of the adventure Lyra will find herself in.

Lyra's world is dominated by a society known as the magisterium who is sort of a big brother watching over the world and is weary of any heretics who might threaten their existence. One such heretic is Lyra's Uncle (Daniel Craig) who is a scholar and believes this dust holds the key to alternate universes, which is something the magisterium does not believe in. Lyra's Uncle travels to the North in search of this dust, but Lyra is close behind when she learns that one of her friends has been kidnapped and is believed to be held there.

She is brought there by the icy Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) who is actually working for the Magisterium and has her own plans for the girl. Lyra soon escapes to find her friend and on the way she runs into many magical characters who help her along the way. They include a witch (Eva Green), some pirate like/gypsy characters known as Gyptians, but most memorably an armoured polar bear and an aeronaut pilot played by Sam Elliot. We find out that Lyra's friend along with other kidnapped children are being used for experiments by the magisterium to take away their free will to make them less of a threat, and free will itself seems to be the main focus of this film and the reason for it's controversy.

There were parts of this film I enjoyed immensely, mostly the message of free will which I don't think is particularly a bad thing or should be perceived as anti-religious. But what I liked most in the film is the film's young star Dakota Blue Richards who plays Lyra. She gives a great performance and wins you over with her intuitiveness, and charm, she's a smart cookie and also a brave one and Richards embodies her perfectly.

But what slows this film down is the complexity of the story. I was intrigued by this world but I don't think we were introduced to it properly, we are all of a sudden thrust into it and I felt like I was playing catch up to understand all that was happening. Many characters are introduced to us but as I said earlier, other than the polar bear and Sam Elliot, they don't make a very memorable impression.

There are some great individual scenes like a giant polar bear fight which may sound silly when I say it but is actually very exciting and violent, but it just adds up to a bit of a muddled mess. Also I think they should've taken their time with the story, it's on an epic scale but it just seems to zip past all the spectacle.

"The Golden Compass" is a very complex story, and I was a bit overwhelmed by its explanation, it took me so long to sit down and enjoy the darn thing, but I guess now that we have all the rules settled and the characters in place, it should make for some enjoyable sequels to come. Even though "The Golden Compass" didn't quite do it for me, I'll be watching this series with some interest.

2.5 stars out of 4