Lacking a Moral Compass?

The Golden Compass

(PG-13)

originally published December 12, 2007

I liked (but did not love) the first book of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and I feel even more lukewarmly about American Pie and About a Boy writer-director Chris Weitz’s filmed adaptation. The film blinds the viewer with $170 million worth of extravagant, potential epic, but lacks the scope, scale, depth or running time of the quintessential fantasy franchise, The Lord of the Rings. I am unsure whether to blame the book’s blemishes, magnified on the big screen, or the film’s narrative shortcomings. Pullman’s novel being a philosophical treatise on the authoritarian nature of religion clad in a propulsive narrative cloak, the producers feared an intelligent film that doesn’t submissively kowtow to dogmatic doctrine would poison The Golden Compass at the box office. (Calls to boycott The Golden Compass only prove the narrow-mindedness Pullman exposes in his books. I don’t recall non-Christians slamming The Chronicles of Narnia.) This anxiety forces Weitz to not so carefully excise windy passages and allusions in the rushed first two acts during which the series’ major players - prophesied heroine Lyra Belacqua (newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), her heretical guardian Lord Asriel (Daniel “007” Craig), over-coutured villainess Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), Gyptians, ice bears, etcetera - and allegorical ideas - dæmons (souls), dust (original sin), the Magisterium (totalitarian religious leadership), and the Authority (God) - are introduced. Every scene is hurried; no relationship is given time to develop; how things come to happen matters little so long as they happen; and characters are all archetypically one-dimensional (Lyra is good; Mrs. Coulter is bad; and Sam Elliott is a cowboy).

Good luck understanding the whys and hows of Lyra’s adventures across this familiarly retrofitted yet utterly foreign world if you haven’t read the novel. However, the movie’s pace quickens with a dynamic third act that requires little explanation. Polar bears royally rumble; witches and arrows soar; and Lyra runs and runs and runs. Then everything just stops with nary a conclusion in sight. The collective “we” really need to have a sit-down with Hollywood to discuss this devastating franchise setup trend. I understand The Golden Compass is the introduction to a fantasy aspirant to follow LotR, but without a risky, upfront commitment to adapt all three, the first film needs to be able to stand alone (right, Eragon?).

If the expensive Golden Compass fails to guide New Line out of the box office wilderness, we will be left with one technically stunning, all too familiar film that lacks the opportunity to really succeed. After devouring this sumptuous visual feast, you’ll be amazed how empty your head and heart feel.

Drew Wheeler