My rating: | IMDB

There are worlds beyond our own - the compass will show the way.

The Golden Compass is based on the book by the same name (or some places known as Northern Lights) by author Philip Pullman. It is the first in a trilogy, and it is said that if the first movie earns enough, the next two books will also be made into movies. One can only hope… Even though the first book and movie are good enough stand-alone stories, they do not feel complete - there are loose threads and unanswered questions in abundance.

As with all book to movie adaptions, things have had to be cut from the movie version. However, as with The Lord of the Rings, the things that are cut and/or altered to fit the movie, it doesn’t subtract too much from the story - as a fan of the book, I still enjoyed the movie a lot (more so than I thought I would), and the changes didn’t bother me much. The story still seemed a little chopped here and there, as it lacks most of the background info you get from the book. Still, Tor had not read the book and he felt he was able to follow the story well enough to enjoy the movie.
The one scene that really stood out as, well, outstanding, was the intercision scene. I could really feel the desperation of Lyra and Pan, it actually made me hold my breath throughout the entire scene, even though I knew the outcome.

The primary strength of the movie does not lie in the story at all, nor really in the acting, but in the special effects and the sceneries. The special effects are impeccable - the panserbjørne and the daemons are fantastic. The shots from Svalbard were beautiful, enough to make any Norwegian heart swell with pride (not that I have any connections with Svalbard at all, besides it belonging to the Norwegian kingdom…), and the Oxford surroundings were just as I had imagined - grand and scholarly, for lack of a better word.

When I say that the acting isn’t one of the primary strengths of the movie, that’s not saying that the acting is bad. Especially Dakota Blue Richards does a great job as Lyra, and Nicole Kidman is perfectly cold and creepy in a dazzling way in her role as Mrs Coulter, the head Gobbler. I had looked forward to seeing Daniel Craig again (he’s the only Bond who’s made me want to watch a 007 movie more than one time), but I’m not really sure about his performance here - to his defense though, he hardly got any screen time at all. He did however fit his character, exactly the way I’d pictured Lord Asriel to be. Had the ending not been cut, we would have gotten to see more of him, and in a scene where he would have the possibility to shine, and not merely be present.
In a movie such as this, the voice acting is just as important as the on-screen acting, and I really think they were spot on with the casting here. I was a little put off by Pantalaimon’s voice at first - he sounded whiny and annoying - but it grew on me and in the end I found that I actually liked it, it fit his character. Also, Ian McKellen as Iorek - fabulous! But really, can one ever go wrong with McKellen? I don’t think so.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by how this movie turned out. Tickets, time and money well spent. I’ve already recommended it to everyone I know, and now I recommend it to you. And if you haven’t already, read the book(s) as well. Even though the first book is by far the best, the other two are worth the time it takes to read them.

Originally posted at Merilin.