The Golden Compass (2007)

Directed by: Chris Weitz | 114 minutes | action, drama, adventure, family, fantasy | Actors: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Dakota Blue Richards, Sam Elliot, Ben Walker, Adam Godley, Nonso Anozie, Jim Carter, Tom Courtenay, Charlie Rowe, Clare Higgins, Steve Loton, Simon McBurney, Jack Shepherd, John Franklyn -Robbins, Jonathan Laury, Magda Szubanski, Paul Antony-Barber, Jason Watkins, Hattie Morahan, Ian McShane, James Rawlings, Joao de Sousa, Tommy Luther

The fantasy genre has really taken off since ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’. Every self-respecting production company would love to have such a franchise, with people eagerly looking forward to the next part. Disney is making an attempt with ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, now film company New Line Cinema hopes to have literally gold in its hands with ‘The Golden Compass’. The film, the first in a trilogy, is based on ‘Northern Lights’, the first part of the book series ‘His Dark Materials’ by author Philip Pullman.

In the parallel world that is almost similar to ours, people have daemons, their souls in the form of an animal. Every person has a daemon, with whom they can talk, who can give them advice, but who can also suffer physical pain. Cozy, always such a buddy at hand, so loneliness is something they don’t know in the world of ‘The Golden Compass’. Children’s daemons do not yet have a fixed form, that of main character Lyra, Pan (short for Pantalaimon), is alternately an ermine, a bird, a butterfly or as the film progresses, more and more often a cat.

Lyra is an orphan and lives at the University of Jordan where she has a reputation for being a headstrong and opinionated girl. She stands up for her boyfriend Roger in the first scene by inventing a curse about the gate to the University and a toga that catches fire when someone puts it on for whom it is not intended. is. It becomes clear that Lyra has a great imagination, something that will come in handy later on.

In the first half hour of the film, much of the background information is rushed through at lightning speed. Great for the momentum in the film, but the viewer lacks the opportunity to get attached to the characters. If exciting developments take place, it hardly causes a stir, it does not affect the viewer much. The acting of Dakota Blue Richards is also to blame. Nowhere does the public feel any kind of urgency in her actions, she wants to save her friends, but how much she wants to is not clear. Nicole Kidman is on a roll as Mrs. Coulter, the woman after Lyra’s golden compass, the alethiometer. The scene where she first sells her daemon an optater and then hugs it is unparalleled. No couture has been spared for Kidman either, she looks absolutely stunning in every scene. In any case, visually speaking, the film is an absolute must, it is almost unimaginable what can be conjured up with CGI. Especially the animals look fantastic.

However, ‘The Golden Compass’ has clearly borrowed from its glorious predecessors. The ‘spyflies’ look a lot like the golden snitch that Harry has to catch during Quidditch, the outpouring of Mrs. Coulter has strong ‘Star Wars’ traits, although the fact that this reveal is already made in the first film is original, the polar bear could be linked to Aslan from ‘Narnia’ and the battle at the end is reminiscent of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. There are several references. In addition to the lack of identification with the characters, this also creates a distance from the viewer, because there is a danger that the attention of the audience is more focused on those references than it stays in the story.

Although Chris Weitz’s intentions are good, he simply put too much into this first part, which – admirable and unique in the genre – clocks in at only 114 minutes. This makes it a confusing whole. For example, when Lyra has a second encounter with witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), she remembers her name flawlessly, while the viewer is like ‘what was her name again’? Not very believable. ‘The Golden Compass’ is a decent movie in the genre. Go see it for the beautiful scenes with the polar bears, for example. However, don’t expect a well-rounded, compelling and exciting story.