The Golden Compass-Spectacle Fantasy Yet Void of Depth

“The Golden Compass” is a fantasy film based on the first novel in Philip Pullman’s trilogy, “His Dark Materials,” which has had 14 million copies sold worldwide. The film by nature is likely to be compared to “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy since it is a new series by one of the major American film studios, New Line Cinema, which is following up its greatest commercial and critical success.

Philip Pullman’s original novel, “His Dark Materials,” is known to have as many as loyal readers as “The Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter.” In addition, its casting also drew much attention since New Line Cinema has poured a fortune into the fantasy epic film. Given these elements, whether the film can surpass the popularity of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy was the major interest for movie goers. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

Fantasy Filled with Eye-grabbing Features-

Imagine. There are numerous places like the planet called “the earth.” Among them, the soul lies inside of a human body like the earth. Or perhaps, in some world, the spirit could exist in the form of a “daemon,” a talking animal spirit-companion, as featured in this movie. The universe id connected with particles called “Dust,” a mysterious entity that allows a move into a parallel universe.

The story begins depicting a scholar and explorer Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) who discovered dust in the “North Pole.” Also, a sinister group Magisterium which dominates the world and tries to prevent Lord Asriel from studying the dust, fearing that it will lose its power. Meanwhile, Lord Asriel’s nephew, LyLa (Dakota Blue Richards), obtains a golden compass, a kind of navigational instrument which was passed down with a prophecy, and realized that she is destined to save it. Later, Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) approaches Lyra and suggests a trip to the North Pole.

With 72 billion won in computer graphics work (CG) out of about a production budget of some 180 billion won, the film faithfully conveys the delight of fantasy movies with fantastic yet curious background and characters. But the best thing that attracts our attention is an armored bear, a kind which helps daemon and Lyla. The daemon can talk with animal forms of daemons such as a cat and a leopard, but the owner can become sick if the daemon is ill. The big bear fight — a big, honking brawl between two massive, roaring polar bears sporting armor is the film’s centerpiece.

Too Many Stories and Too Fast Development-

Pullman’s original novel is obviously not religious and has atheistic themes. Magisterium in the novel implies a fundamental Christian group. However, the film does not have religious characteristics. The U.S. media criticized the film for its dilution of the original version of the novel by rejecting director Weitz’s world view, which eventually failed to satisfy both the readers of the original novel and religious circles.

The U.S. Catholic Church released a press report, expressing concerns that, “Due to its diluted contents, parents may show this film to their children and kids may ask their parents to buy the original novel as a Christmas gift.” Despite complex signs and numerous characters, the film is reduced to a story about “An adventure of Lyla,” and failed to explain the need of the adventure. Film critic Kim Bong-seok said, “Although the film ‘The Lord of the Rings’ clearly delivered the concept of the necessity of discovery of the ring, ‘The Golden Compass’ failed to explain to do that.”

The film is famous for its all-star cast. The cold charisma of Nicole Kidman, featured as the “Golden Lady,” who has white skin, blond hair, and wears golden dress in the film, shines in the movie. The New York Times sarcastically remarked that her look was like “Marilyn Monroe on botox.” Meanwhile, Daniel Craig and Eva Green appeared only in the last scenes, indicating they would play the main characters in the next series of the film. Although there will be many fans who will be disappointed with the film’s conclusion, it is expected that the next series will be more fantastic. The movie is rated for all.

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