The Golden Compass (PG)
Posted by djcharlie on Fri, 04 Jan 2008.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Ben Walker, Freddie Highmore, Ian McKellan, Eva Green, Ian McShane, Sam Elliott, Christopher Lee, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kathy Bates
The much loved Philip Pullman book Northern Lights has been made into a film at last. Not since Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean has a film sparked so much interest in the public eye.
In the world created by Phillip Pullman the Magistirium has power over most things and people live with daemons, which are peoples souls that take the form of an animal and live alongside the person it shares a life with.
The adventure starts when Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) talks about Dust, a forbidden word and vows to find it to prove his theory of other worlds to be true. His niece Lyra (Dakoda Richards) asks him about Dust but Lord Asriel doesn’t tell her about it. It’s that night when Lyra is introduced to Mrs Coulter (Nichole Kidman) at a fancy dinner that night one of her friends, Roger (Ben Walker) is kidnapped by the Gobblers! Mrs Coulter is also going to the north and takes Lyra with her, before the journey begins she is given an Alethiometer, an instrument which can answer any question truthfully. It’s in the north when Lyra discovers why children are being taken by the gobblers to Norway. Lyra attempts to rescue the children with the help of the ice bears and all the other friends she has made during her journey prison and fight their captors. At the end Lyra, Roger, Mr Scoresby (and aero naught played by Sam Elliott) and lorek Byrnison (an ice bear voice of Ian McKellen) go in search of Lord Asriel who was captured by the Samoyed people on his travels to the north.
When I read Northern Lights (the first book in the trilogy) I didn't like Lyra immediately, but as Phillip Pullman builds her character i grew to like Lyra and enjoyed the book. Then I read the Subtle Knife (the next book in the trilogy) I was excited about seeing The Golden Compass and knew that Lyra was a big roll for 13 year old Dakoda Richards as she appears in almost every scene but she made portraying Lyra look easy. My favourite part must have been when Lyra was running from Mrs coulter and the Gobblers near the start of the film, the atmosphere created by the set, acting and music makes you sit on the edge of your seat just wanting her to get away.
The Golden Compass is a fantastic fantasy film for all the family.
Score: 8/10