golden compass

THE FLICK: It’s never a good sign when the behind-the-scenes story gets more press than the one that’s taking place on screen. Such is the case with The Golden Compass thanks to a combination of studio politics, creative differences and religious right protests which feared the atheistic agenda underlying Phillip Pullman’s books without even giving Chris Weitz’s film adaptation a fair shake. It’s criminal really that such an imaginative, mature and expensive production was torpedoed before it ever had a chance at the box-office. But such is the risk in today’s Hollywood where establishing a marketable “franchise” takes precedent over telling a story with a beginning, middle and end. Set in one of many alternate realities, the world Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) inhabits is lorded over by the Magesterium, an rather obvious stand-in for the Catholic church, which disguises its Orwellian tendencies with an aura of beneficence embodied by Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman), who shows an unusual interest in little Lyra. Meanwhile, Lyra’s uncle has set off on an arctic mission to study the phenomenon of Dust, a mysterious substance that seems to emanate from another dimension. Lyra is invited to travel North with Ms. Coulter, but it’s all a sham, covering up the fact that kids are being kidnapped by “gobblers” and used in soul-separating experiments. Oh, and did we cover the fact that everyone has their own special “daemon” which serves as a sort of spiritual conscience-confessor? Well, they do. To call The Golden Compass complex is beyond an understatement. The film attempts to set the stage with a five-minute intro that covers much of what’s explained in the above paragraph. But it doesn’t do a much better job than I did...just adds better special effects. Yet being tossed naked into Phillip Pullman’s universe is actually one of the movie’s strengths. Unlike the simplistic good vs. evil scenarios of Harry Potter knock-offs like The Seeker and Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass adds depth to its imagination. It expects a lot from its young adult audience, rather than pandering to them. It asks questions and doesn’t provide immediate answers. And if the trade-off for that sort of experience is a few moments of confusion, so be it. Of course, much of the magic of the film is still surface level stuff. Kids will be turned on simply by the idea of riding a giant armoured polar bear courtesy of the Academy Award winning special effects, which beat out both Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean. But it’s obvious that many of the people involved saw more to the project than just a potential cash cow. Nicole Kidman’s performance is a revelation; sexy, scary and sympathetic all at once. Daniel Craig adds a dash of class. And Dakota Blue Richards is allowed to be a non-conformist brat from beginning to end; atypical of a children’s hero in which questioning authority is usually a bad thing! But it all comes back to the bears, perfectly inhabited by the voice of Ian McKellen as Iorek Byrnison, whose journey to reclaim his crown is the sort of epic adventure that few kids (or adults) would be willing to turn down. THE FEATURES: As a result of all the aforementioned studio interference, The Golden Compass was rumored to have been trimmed significantly prior to its theatrical release. New Line’s Blu-ray release is a rock-solid special edition, make no mistake about it. But we all know that an extended cut is bound to surface sometime. In fact, a recent Best Buy exclusive bonus disc was said to include 45-minutes of deleted scenes. Not quite fair when fans are already making a substantial investment just to own the movie on hi-def. So with that out of the way, what do you get for your money? Firstly, a fantastic transfer accompanied by a Chris Weitz commentary. But since you’ve gone Blu-ray you might as well take advantage of the exclusive Enhanced Visual Commentary which goes along with Weitz’s talking head shot and adds behind-the-scenes footage in a picture-in-picture setting. The director comes off as quite humble and charming, staying on topic and keeping it interesting. Disc two contains the much ballyhooed 2 1⁄2 Hours of Special Features! And for once, they’re worth the effort, besting most of the Potter product now out on DVD in terms of quality and quantity. Beginning with a Philip Pullman sit-down and culminating with the creation of the armoured bear sequence, this is well-researched, well-produced material that even non-fanatics would find interesting. And best of all, its in full HD!