Dir. Chris Weitz
Writ. Chris Weitz
Act. Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards

As I was walking out of the movie theater after watching this film, the guy I was with said something about killing Peter Jackson for creating the 3-part movie series. The Golden Compass is definitely going to have a part two and I would assume a part three. The biggest problem I have with this film is that it took a while to set the backstory and while at times it had me intrigued, the film didn't keep me from watching the clock wondering when it was going to be over.

In an alternate universe where the souls of humans walk beside the person as animals, young Lyra Belacqua, played by Dakota Blue Richards (first film,) is a smart, intelligent, troublemaker at the school she is enrolled. In an effort to save her uncle, Lord Asriel, played by Daniel Craig (Casino Royale,) and to solve the mystery of the missing children from the school, Lyra enlists the help of the gypsies, whose children are the ones who are predominantly missing, goes north to the land of the Ice Bears to find out what happened to the kids and to discover what the magical dust is that sent her uncle to the north in the first place.

Some aspects of the story I enjoyed. The whole concept of having an animal as the soul of a human was fun. The different animals that portrayed the souls was very telling of the characters and their personality. I especially enjoyed that Lyra's soul couldn't make up its mind what kind of animal it wanted to be. Much like Lyra's struggle between being good and responsible as oppose to be rebellious and adventurous. I also enjoyed the story of Lorek Byrnison, the outcast ice bear that decides to help Lyra, voiced by Ian McKellen (X-Men trilogy.) I thought that was the most well developed story line in the film.

Character motivation left much to be desired. Especially questionable was the character Marisa Coulter, played unconvincingly by Nicole Kidman (The Hours,) who was working for The Magisterium, the organization in control of the world, for lack of a better word. She takes Lyra away from school in the guise to find her Lyra's uncle, but in actuality she was taken away so Marisa could get her hands on the Alethiometer, a hand held machine that can tell the person holding if someone is telling the truth, providing the holder of the gadget knows how to use it. Kidman's character seems to have a split personality because she doesn't mind hurting Lyra but doesn't want anyone else to touch her. When Lyra is about to be purged of her sole, Marisa saves her from it and we find out the Lyra may or may not be Marisa's daughter. It's hard to know what is real because the story isn't well written around this character.

The movie is visually stunning and the CGI was done very well. I feel it is much better than the non-3D version of Beowulf. Kids should enjoy the film and the younger they are the better they will enjoy it. The movie is based on the book Northern Lights, by Phillip Pullman, in which it is the first of a three-book story about the fall of religion and the death of God. I don't see a lot of that in this movie.

As visually stimulating as this movie is, I can't recommend this movie beyond a DVD rental. There are better movies out there for $10 than this one with holiday season approaching.

Brian - the Naked Gun