The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass suffers from the same problem that’s already affected many of the Harry Potter films: in adapting author Philip Pullman’s hefty fantasy novel, the movie comes across as a rushed highlights package.

Scenes jump from one to the next without giving the audience a chance to process what’s happening, or even a chance to develop an emotional connection with the characters. It’s highly likely that people who have read the book, myself included, will have a better grasp of the plot as well as the alternate universe the characters inhabit.

Speaking of which, it’s important to know that The Golden Compass takes place in a world where every person’s soul manifests itself as a lifelong animal companion, called a daemon. It’s also a world where immortal witches and talking polar bears co-exist, and a sinister dictatorial body, the Magisterium, is trying to tighten its control over the free thinking minds of humanity.

In this context, feisty orphan Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) uncovers a horrific Magisterium plot involving children and their daemons. With the assistance of an assortment of characters and an uncanny ability to read the last altheometer – a golden “truth” compass – Lyra heads to the snowy North to rescue her friends.

There’s no question that the world of The Golden Compass is beautifully realised, with top notch cinematography and special effects. The film’s two stand-out sequences are battles that take place in the North – one involving armoured bears in vicious single combat, and the other a large scale conflict where the witches’ grace and power is highlighted.


Performances too are excellent all around. The best of the lot are unknown Dakota Blue Richards, who is spot on as Lyra, and Nicole Kidman, as icy Magisterium agent, Mrs Coulter. Mrs Coulter’s treatment of her wretched monkey daemon suggests a complexity normally missing from bog-standard fantasy villains. Meanwhile, Eva Green and Sam Elliott also impress in their small, likeable roles as a witch queen and aeronaut respectively.

It’s a pity then that The Golden Compass lacks an emotional hook. The film has its share of “magical” moments – Lyra’s riding of armoured bear Iorek is comparably exciting to Bastion’s flight on Falkor the Luckdragon in The Neverending Story – but there’s no single instant that grabs your heart. Even Lyra’s near intercission in the Bolvanger laboratory is too quickly over, when it should be torturous for Lyra, and the audience.


As for all the anti-Christian religious controversy surrounding the film, there’s no reference at all to the Church during the course if the movie. There is enough veiled criticism present if you’re intent on digging it up, but The Golden Compass functions more powerfully as a general anti-authority tale. It’s regrettable then that the filmmakers have chosen to give the movie a more optimistic, “safe” ending, stopping short of the book’s cliff-hanger climax, which complicates Lyra’s relationship with certain characters and forever alters her moral compass.

In the end there are enough highlights to make The Golden Compass worth seeing, but its rushed pace means it’s just good; not excellent.