Ever watch a movie in its entirety, but have no idea what’s going on? That’s what watching “The Golden Compass” is like.
Based of the 1995 YA novel, “Northern Lights,” the film follows the story of the spirited young Lyra Belacqua. She lives in a world in which part of the human soul resides in an animal companion called a daemon. And a powerful church called the Magisterium rules the land.
Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) lives in the care of her uncle Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig). But she eventually gets whisked away up north by the elusive Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), who insists on taking Lyra as an assistant. Eventually while she is on this trip, Lyra learns Mrs. Coulter is involved in a sinister plan that involves kidnapping local children. Two of Lyra’s good friends were kidnapped as a part of this plan. Lyra escapes Mrs. Coulter and travels far and wide to stop this plan and bring her friends home.
This movie should have been good. It had all the makings of a good film — solid source material and a stellar cast. In addition to Richards (who delivers a strong debut performance), Craig and Kidman, Freddie Highmore, Ian McKellan, Ian McShane, Christopher Lee, Eva Green, and Sam Elliot can also be found in this expansive cast. But despite all these elements in its corner, “The Golden Compass” simply was not a good film.
So why didn’t it work? There might be a few reasons, really. Right off the bat, the writing is clunky. “The Golden Compass” was intended to be part one of a trilogy, mirroring the trilogy of books. Introducing a trilogy takes a lot of world building. Especially when that world is filled with sci-fi elements, such as the daemon. But “The Golden Compass” doesn’t really do much of that. The dialogue is long-winded and clunky.
Not to mention that the direction feels sloppy. “The Golden Compass” masquerades as an epic fantasy story. A movie like that should move confidently and at a smooth pace. Instead, it is meandering. The story wanders from moment-to-moment, feeling unsure of where to go. The movie did have a conclusion — albeit a loose one, as this was supposed to be a trilogy. But nothing about it feels satisfying in the slightest.
Audiences are getting a redo of Lyra’s story in HBO’s forthcoming “His Dark Materials,” a mini series-version of the trilogy “The Golden Compass” was based on. Let’s hope the television show does not let us down like the movie did.
