The following review is only meant for readers of the books, as it contains quite some references and spoilers. Stay tuned for our non-readers review!
Silver Screen, Golden Materials
There are fans and there are critics. I'm a fan: all the more tempting to be a critic. That is, of course, if there are critiques to find.
The Golden Compass opens to the enticing Scandanavian drawl of Eva Green, carrying narration to the world beyond the billowing Oxford window. An impressive nebula of "Dust-scapes" introduce Lyra's world in deep golden swirls and spirals and send us straight into a high-energy street romp with Lyra and her comrades, Dakota Blue Richards shining as she spins out a tale to terrify the Gyptians away from pelting Roger with mud balls.
The fast pace of the movie allows for quick information run-down to non-readers and is fast enough to not drag on previous fans of The Golden Compass. Daniel Craig's portrayal of Lord Asriel is both charming and intimidating, the filming mixing close-ups of his deep blue eyes alongside his harsh insistence to go against the Magisterium and abrupt dismissals of Lyra. Absolutely stunning in the role of Mrs. Coulter, Kidman shines immediately as the seductive beauty with obviously torn emotions. A woman with enough solid charm to win a staring match with the Master of Jordan College deserves, as she explains later, to have no one controlling what she does.
The production design dominates at some points as Alexandre Desplat's "Sky ferry" swells with the zeppelin rides, a gorgeous Oxford displayed below and a heavy initial focus on the anbaric spheres powering both zeppelins and carriages - distinguishing the technological track of Lyra's world. Arriving in London, Lyra and Mrs. Coulter breeze through the city together, visiting Salons, talking at social parties, and in Lyra's case, disliking the drink menu for the night.
The story becomes a bit choppy in the middle, and not due to cliff ghasts interrupting the flight. Cuts to Billy Costa at the Bolvangar station and Lord Asriel exploring the northern landscapes intersperse with Lyra and the Gyptians, where Lyra learns to read the alethiometer with hardly a difficulty at all. An interaction between the witch queen Serafina Pekkala and Lyra on board the Noorderlicht sets up the Gyptians to discover where the kidnapped children are being taken.
One pit stop at Trollesund, Sam Elliot every ounce of the "whiplash lean and courteous" Texan aeronaut, and an armoured bear later, the Gyptians set up camp on the way to Bolvangar. The ragged left-torn-ear Iorek Byrnison is as easy to warm to as Lyra finds him, even if he is CGI there is a great deal of depth in the movements around his eyes - something both different and wonderful for the film. His later fight with Ragnar Sturlusson shows off even more of the weighty CGI panserbjorne.
Subtle fun pops up in the interactions between humans and dæmons. Billy Costa grabs his own neck as the golden monkey snags his dæmon, Ratter. Mrs. Coulter slaps the golden monkey in anger, and apologetically turns to the camera with red marks on her own face. A harassed and surrounded Lord Asriel is captured, his dæmon Stelmaria in much the same shape following closely behind.
The speed of scenes delivered didn't let up, unfortunately, not always giving enough air to each new discovery: namely the finding of Billy Costa in the fur trader's hut and his quick delivery to his mother. The order of events between Svalbard and Bolvangar is switched, with Iorek taking down the bear-king Ragnar in beautiful fashion with clean throat-ripping, crunching, and a full body flip to really get the point across. Yes, Iorek throws it down, and still winds up with his lines: "Bears! Who is your king!"
A quick ice-bridge to Bolvangar lands Lyra back with her best comrade Roger at the "Experimental Station," Lyra's greeter awkwardly explains. My largest critique would be to question where Pantalaimon was when Lyra crossed the perilous ice bridge. In such a tenuous moment for Lyra, it seemed like this was intended to be a goodbye with Iorek rather than where it truly ended up in the movie. The dæmons of the stark-white Bolvangar lighting become more impressive in their characterization and realism, with Dakota Blue Richards and Freddie Highmore very impressive at their most emotional moment together. In her furious protrayal of Lyra behind the mesh cages, Dakota appears to knock one of the Bolvangar doctors away from the mesh with a blow to the cages.
The fight between the Tartar guards and the children, witches, Gyptians, and Iorek was beautifully executed. The panserbjorne himself was spectacular as he executed a jump-smash-bite over Lyra's head in serious style. Dakota a number of Lyratic opportunities to spit, taunt, and hit the Tartars with the ends of their own guns. And all this fighting ran with a backdrop of flying witches, dying dæmons, a crashing armoured polar bear, and Lee Scoresby overhead firing shots to save his comrade.
The movie ends on a very positive note after Roger tugs on some heartstrings, confiding fully in his Lyra and agreeing to go to the ends of the world with her. Lee Scoresby's balloon continues towards the aurora, against Lyra's insistence that with Iorek and Lee and Serafina they'll make things right, and so the movie ends: "Just let them try to stop us."
Overall The Golden Compass is a thrilling and beautiful holiday film, backed by a fantastic story, and strong actors with occassionally weak moments. The "Dust Scapes" which were used in creating a nebula effect for dæmon deaths and creating a narrative behind the workings of the alethiometer, stole the screen each instance they appeared - moreso against the darker backgrounds of Bolvangar.
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