The Golden Compass
THE GOLDEN COMPASSÂ (PG)
D: Chris Weitz
New Line/Ingenious/Scholastic (Deborah Forte & Bill
Carraro)
UK/USA 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 2007
113 mins
Fantasy/Adventure
W: Chris Weitz [based on the novel "Northern Lights" by
Philip Pullman]
DP: Henry Braham
Ed: Peter Honess, Anne V. Coates & Kevin
Tent
Mus: Alexandre Desplat
PD:Â Dennis Gassner
Dakota Blue Richards (Lyra Belacqua), Nicole Kidman (Mrs.
Coulter), Daniel Craig (Lord Asriel), Sam Elliott (Lee Scoresby), Eva Green (Serafina Pekkala), Freddie Highmore (voice of Pantalaimon), Ian McKellen (voice of Iorek Byrnison)
Lyra, a 12-year-old girl is assisted by an armoured polar
bear in her quest to the North Pole to investigate the location of missing children.
Based on the first segment of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark
Materials' trilogy, the production didn't do itself any favours by releasing itself when C. S. Lewis' Narnia books were themselves getting cinematic adaptations, especially since the
marketing appeared to tie it into the same franchise.
Visually the effects are great and the production design
is very well realised, but the performances are miscast, especially Nicole Kidman as ice-cold villainess Mrs. Coulter.
Poor box office performance prevented a further two films
from being green-lighted, proving the film really was the victim of a poorly-timed release date.
5/10
