****1/2 (out of 5)
Trailer--http://www.fandango.com/videos/v290504
Went to a Sneak Preview of The Golden Compass (GC) this afternoon at the Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall movie theatre. On the coldest day of this late Fall, and not being a mall regular, I forgot that going to a shopping center on a Christmas Saturday is not the brightest move. The parking was a nightmare, fortunately the movie was a dream.
I knew very little about the story of GC, only the controversy the Catholic League is causing over it. The League's president, Bill Donohue, has tried to muster a boycott of the movie when it comes out, because the book is supposedly anti-Catholic Church. He feels that the movie, like the book, is aimed at impressionable children and families, and they will get wrong ideas from the film.
Well, maybe Mr. Donohue should actually see the movie before condemning it, because he would note that writer/director Chris Weitz has taken any reference to religion out of the film and made it simply about retaining your individuality. The author, Phillip Pullman, might have an axe to grind with the Catholic Church, but here the message is simple, just be yourself and stand up to anyone who tries to stop you.
The parking was a nightmare, fortunately the movie was a dream.
Weitz didn't surprise me with this film as much as make me proud. He was the co-writer and director of American Pie and I felt that even without the gross-out scenes it was still a very well-made movie. Weitz also directed Hugh Grant's About a Boy, which was a classier comedy, but with GC he has jumped up in weight class to approach the Peter Jackson-type directors. In fact, Weitz went to visit Jackson in New Zealand for a crash course in special effects and blockbuster movie making and I have to say the lessons took.
The movie is stirring, fun, well-paced, well-written, touching and filled with action that flows with the story rather than feeling added on. True you might catch similarities between this and other fantasy films before it, specifically Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, but those movies sampled from other stories as well.
GC stars another great child actress named Dakota, Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua, a little orphan living with her famous scientist uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig-James Bond). The story takes places in an alternate universe where people's souls travel alongside them in the form of animals. The souls (called Demons) speak with different voices and fight for their human counterparts, but receive similar injuries as well. If the human is being choked the souls get choked, too.
One of the cool things about the movie is how the adults have one kind of animal representing them, but the children (who are still trying to find themselves) have souls that are in flux, jumping in form from birds to cats to ferrets and such. Lyra's soul (named Pan) has a menagerie of forms depending on how strong she feels. At times Pan's a scared little mouse, other times he's a ferocious bobcat. And with the voice of Willy Wonka's Freddie Highmore, you feel very protective towards him.
Lord Asriel has discovered a connection between the other universes that flows through the Demons, but appears to come through only at their world's North Pole region. He embarks on his journey there, leaving Lyra behind, but she soon follows him with her new friend, the indomitable Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman). Kidman plays Coulter with fiery eyes and icy charm and makes grown men quiver in her presence.
Along with Kidman and Craig, there are so many great secondary characters, played either in person or in voice by Ian McKellen (Gandalf-Lord of the Rings), Sam Elliot, Chirstopher Lee, Derek Jacobi and Ian McShane (Swearingen-Deadwood).
But despite stars Kidman and Craig, this is really Dakota's movie. I don't remember the last time I saw a little girl get such a big part, in such a big movie and do such a great job. She's tough enough that both boys and girls should be able to root for her, but still retains her sweetness.
Like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, this movie has its own ending while setting you up for a sequel, which I can't wait to see. This movie is a major achievement and should become a perennial favorite.
The Freditor
2 comments:
After reading your review in great detail, I can’t help but think that while you are rather capable writer, you seem to have a penchant for overstating the issue’s that are not necessarily the same as what we are all feeling at any given moment. Was it now Randall Cunningham who said, LET NO BOOK GO UNREAD IN THE GARDEN, while all the while showing your neighbors that you are a can do neighbor by sharing your fortune in life by decorating your house for the holidays. But I thank you for taking the time to share this with us.
Absolutely read the GC books, all there were compelling reads. They are geared towards the younger reader (think Harry Potter) but that doesn't take away from the fact that they are nicely written, good stories.
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