THE GOLDEN COMPASS (2007)

TITLE
The Golden Compass

STARRING
Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Christopher Lee

COMPARABLE TO...
Visually: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, newer Star Wars episodes. Thematically: Legend, Neverending Story, Matrix.

THE JIST
Lyra (Richards) is special little girl and has been protected for reasons unknown to her by her alleged uncle (Craig) and the academic community, who support and fund his research in the North. The moral authority known as Magisterium, betray the trust of Lyra and the academics by deceiving her, using the charming Ms. Coulter (Kidman) who easily acquires Lyra's trust in order to gain accesss to a valuable tool in Lyra's possession. Not to be underestimated, Lyra escapes and with the help of friends rallied to her cause by shared interests and an allegiance to her uncle she aims to save her friend for the experiments of the Magisterium. Travels take her far North to where her best pal and uncle are being held captive, separately. Battles ensue discoveries are made, secrets are revealed. Ending much like the first LOTR film, you are left wanting more action and answers, hence the sequel.

WOULD I SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?
Absolutely. It's been a long time since I've liked a film like this, but it is not for everybody. I thought the first installment of Narnia was awful, overburdened with bad action, religious undertones not understood by kids, and a generally confusing operative, so I was hesitant to see The Golden Compass. Not regarded as similar in theme, they are both designed to be trilogies of semi-epic proportions.

Before you see it, assuming you have not read the book, wrap your head around this: people have a demon that reflects the human soul and runs around in animal form (your demon gets hurt so do you, you die, so does your demon). As a child, the demon can shift shapes, for example, Lyra's demon appears most often as a ferret, but also as a cat, mouse and hawk. Once you become an adult, the demon settles into one shape. Another tip for those who haven't read the book, but will likely see the movie, it is best not to get mired down by the language. Otherwise you might easily let things escape which become pivotal. The writing is good, but not necessarily understood with full clarity until the first forty minutes. A little long for my tastes, but the film is intriguing and the acting wonderful.

MORE INFORMATION
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/