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The Golden Compass is directed by Chris Weitz, and
is based on the novel by Philip Pullman. The film stars
Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Ian McKellen,
Ian McShane, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, and Christopher Lee.
The musical score is composed by Alexandre Desplat. ***
The Golden Compass, based on the first novel in Philip
Pullman's “Dark Materials” series, follows the life of a
young girl in an alternate universe. A person's body and
soul are separate, with the soul residing in an animal-like
manifestation. It isn't long before a young girl, is thrown
into the chaos ensuing in this world. An all-powerful organization
rules with an iron fist, and will not tolerate any research
that could be harmful to its regime. The girl is believed
to be one who will play an all-important role in turning
the tide of the ongoing war. As her journey progresses,
she meets numerous allies, and deadly foes around every
corner. ***
The Golden Compass is an extremely mixed bag - and
the flaws drag it down just enough that I can't quite recommend
it. On the positive side, the look of the film is one all
its own - the CGI effects are incredible, and it's a beautiful
setting that seamlessly crosses elements of 19th century
Europe with the not-so-distant future. Additionally, there
are some terrific performances in the film - the young Dakota
Blue Richards is absolutely incredible here. But on the
other hand, there's too much information to absorb in the
relatively minimal run time, and considering many of the
characters are one-dimensional, it certainly didn't make
this viewer want to delve deeper. At times the experience
feels predictable. Others it ranges anywhere from campy
to overly dark. It's clearly “part 1” of something larger,
and I'm optimistic for future films in this series…. But
they're going to have to work harder than this to win this
critic over. ***
As far as the positives go, despite my not quite being
able to recommend the film, there's still plenty of elements
that can be praised. The setting and look of the film are
the greatest asset here. It's absolutely incredible scenery
that is brought to life through some of the best CGI this
reviewer has seen at the movies in quite some time. The
universe looks incredible, with a nice mix of past and future
elements alike. Sure, my brain drifted off track more than
a few times while I was watching the film - but my eyes
never left the screen. ***
The acting here, in many cases, is surprisingly good.
Dakota Blue Richards steals the show as our heroine. She's
a young girl with a lot of spunk, and she doesn't back down
for anyone, no matter how tough or menacing they may be.
She definitely has a future in the movie business. Other
good performances include Daniel Craig in an all-too-limited
part, Nicole Kidman as a diabolical agent working for a
mysterious organization, and Sam Elliott as a cowboy in
an airship (his character seems horribly out of place in
this universe, yet it's one of the things I enjoyed most
about the film. Go figure.) The only weakness in the acting
comes from the often-weak script. ***
While there's a lot to praise about the film, there's
even more that bogs the experience down. The film runs just
under two hours, yet tries to cram so much information and
so many characters into the experience. As a result, the
experience feels rushed, and many of the characters come
off as one-dimensional. A shame, since they're played so
well by the cast. The overall tone of the movie never stays
consistent, and this is perhaps the biggest weakness of
all. One minute, the film can have a dark, ominous feeling
over our heroes and the viewers of the film…. And the next,
the experience can almost feel campy and laughable. I'm
all for a dark, intriguing storyline, but the inconsistency
in tone hurts this movie. Finally, the film's conclusion
is less than satisfying. I know it's part 1 in a series,
but after seeing this often-lackluster adaptation of the
beloved novel, viewers will be questioning whether or not
they want to see parts 2 or 3. ***
Parents may be wondering about the film getting a PG-13
instead of a PG. So I'll give my two cents on the issue
before moving on. This film DOES often feel darker than,
say, The Chronicles of Narnia, and there are some pretty
intense battle scenes. However, even in these battle scenes,
there's no blood or signs of death. Characters that are
presumably “killed” just disintegrate into dust. Seriously,
it's pretty tame as far as a modern PG-13 film goes. If
you're kids have seen The Lord of the Rings films, they've
seen combat far more violent than they'll see here. ---
Image And Sound:
A beautiful DVD transfer. The image quality on this
disc is to die for. Not once in the course of the film did
I spot a single compression artifact or any grain. The look
of this film is one of the best things it has going for
it, and the excellent CGI and cinematography is done justice
on the DVD format.
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