New Line Cinema's latest foray into the world of fantasy and adventure is The Golden Compass. Based on the book by Phillip Pullman (from his His Dark Materials trilogy), The Golden Compass showcases a parallel world where a little girl (Dakota Blue Richards) becomes entangled in a struggle between a religious-esque organization and the more rebellious factions of its society. The film also stars Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green and Sam Elliot. Chris Weitz directs.
Andy: The Golden Compass starts out explaining the complexities of the “world” in which it exists. It's not too complicated to follow, even for older kids, but it is not a very exciting way to start a great fantasy / adventure movie. It does have a level of charm, though, with every human walking around with an animal that represents their soul. Ordinarily that much CGI-animal effects (not to mention the animals talk) would turn me completely off, but I thought the device worked well throughout the movie.
Ryan: From warrior bears to spiritual animal sidekicks, the world of The Golden Compass is extremely imaginative. The film from the special effects to the cinematography looks great. For the most part the performances are more than adequate in satisfying a fantasy-driven storyline. But with all that said, The Golden Compass fails to live up to the high quality fantasy films (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia) that audiences are now used too. Ultimately, The Golden Compass is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill fantasy flick.
Ryan: The Golden Compass was number one at the box-office, 25+ million, but it was far from being an impressive opening. Some of that could be attributed to the controversy that somewhat plagued the movie leading up to its opening. Pullman's books are popular in the US (and even more so in England). But there has been some criticism that some elements of the book are anti-Christian. Being aware of that, Weitz adapted a script devoid of many of the religious themes and ideas in the book. Conversely in doing that Weitz alienated the true fans of the series by not producing a faithful adaptation. Consequently the movie ends up being a watered-down version of the book thus turning away the fans but also confusing those new to The Golden Compass universe by presenting an authoritarian religious organization without any context.
Andy: That explains a lot, actually, because the hierarchy of authority in the movie definitely seems to be more important to the plot than the little time they spent explaining it. As with many fantasy movies, there seems to be a bigger, allegorical theme in the works with the Golden Compass, but it never makes itself very clear and ends up seeming pseudo-allegorical at times. This also makes it seem like it's trying too hard to be The Lord of the Rings, as if it has to manufacture a greater symbolic meaning than is actually there.
Ryan: From the very first trailer that I saw for The Golden Compass, it was obvious that New Line Cinema was building it up to be their new Lord of the Rings trilogy. Looking at the underwhelming box-office results (combined with that fact that the film is quite mediocre) this might be the only installment that makes it to the silver screen. Reportedly The Golden Compass cost well over 200 million dollars to produce and market. Prior to the mega success of the Rings Trilogy, some Hollywood insiders had predicted that the Rings movies might bankrupt the studio and that New Line Cinema was making a huge mistake. Ultimately that wasn't the case back then but it looks like it might be now.
Andy: I was pretty impressed with the acting in the movie. Richards could turn into a solid young actress, as she is able to adequately carry the movie. Nicole Kidman was outstanding as the charming- but-untrustworthy villain. Daniel Craig was good if underutilized, and it was fun to see Sam Elliot essentially playing his Stranger character from The Big Lebowski.
The Golden Compass has moments that are pretty good, but the movie doesn't quite hold together well enough to reach the greatness at which it was aiming. Final grade: B-.
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2 comments:
sorry to hear it wasn't spectacular. haven't seen it yet, but definitely will in the next week or so.
if you haven't read the books yet, i strongly urge you to. they are amazing.
i kind of figured they'd play down the whole religion thing in the movie...
the premise is actually more about an alternate reality where the church of england or the catholic church actually became the dominant governing body of the world.
i hope they do make the second and third movies. the first book is absolutely awesome, but the second and third books are equal to or greater than it. the locations and pacing are so much different, too. the subtle knife starts on our earth. i want to expound on them more, but i would totally give away more things than is polite.
seriously, these are books that everyone i know should read.
I have been attempting to read The Golden Compass, but it is way to difficult to get into at the moment.
With all the controversy over the books and movies and how it could "alter" the way kids think about God, there are very few kids that could pick up The Golden Compass to read it much less understand it and the rest of the series. If I ever make it through the book, I might watch the movie, but its not on my top list of movies to see.
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