Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is a twelve year old orphan who lives in a world parallel to our own. It is a world where souls walk beside humans in the form of animals, where giant, talking polar bears are the fiercest of warriors, where witches fly through the sky and proclaim prophecies, where an authority called the Magisterium reigns supreme, and where a group called Goblers are kidnapping children left and right. When two of Lyra’s friends are taken captive, she embarks on an adventure to rescue them. Equipped with a golden compass that only she can read, Lyra stumbles into an epic battle that stretches across the entire universe.
I hope that Philip Pullman’s acclaimed novels hold a reader’s attention far better than this film adaptation held mine. Never once have I, no matter how terrible the film, thought about walking out of a movie theater but I genuinely wanted this film to be over after the first thirty minutes. Besides a dazzling wardrobe and captivating CGI animals, there was nothing else to applaud. For me, a fantasy world should be one that a child would want to step into, explore, and see for themselves. This bleak, cold, depressing, and terrible land Pullman has painted makes me appreciate the world I live in. Perhaps that was his intent–to make us appreciate what we have here on earth. If so, he succeeds. But then again, he succeeds in fueling the demise of imagination. As a film critic, I found Chris Weitz’s adaptation to be vague, sloppy, and downright frightening. There were so many borrowed elements that made this film unimaginative, from the green fire we saw in Harry Potter, to the battle sequences we saw in The Chronicles of Narnia, to even casting Lord of the Rings actors like Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen. Parents, I’m begging you, don’t waste your money on this one. It’s a flop!
PROS
The Magisterium is a fascist organization that will stop at nothing, not even brainwashing and torture, to hold onto its power. The underlying drive of Lyra, her friends, and her allies is to resist this tyranny and fight for freedom.
Lyra promises her best friend that if he is taken by the Goblers that she will come find him. She ultimately keeps her word.
There are several instances where characters demonstrate bravery: Lyra saves Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) from drinking wine that has been poisoned; Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) saves Lyra from torture; and the gyspy-like “Gyptians” save Lyra from being captured by the Magisterium.
CONS
Lyra is far from a child role model. She is a habitual liar (ironic since her golden compass is a truth-telling device) who despises all authority figures, deplores the idea of becoming a lady, eavesdrops on purpose, and doesn’t seem to exibit any light or goodness of spirit. Her character is so ridiculously abrasive that if not for the PG-13 rating, Weitz would have her cursing like a sailor.
The souls that walk beside their humans in animal forms are called dæmons (pronounced demons). This might be offensive to some parents and children–I know that for me, it was unsettling to look at a cute, cuddly ferret on screen and hear him referred to as a demon.
The fact that Pullman calls the evil, reigning authority the ‘Magisterium,’ (one of the bad guys is also a friar) might offend some of the Catholic faith, especially since Pullman is very outspoken about his anti-Catholic prejudices.
There is not one good, righteous, shining light, or ray of hope to be found in this movie. I found all of the children and adults to be petty, rude, and cruel. If Lyra is supposed to be what is good, then Pullman and Weitz need some lessons in goodness.
There are some truly terrifying battle sequences throughout the entire film. Some of these include a horrific, torture scene where Lyra is getting her dæmon “cut off,” and during an intense battle between two polar bears, the winning bear rips the jaw off of the losing bear and breaks his neck. It’s rather gruesome.
One of the witches speaks about her ex-lover. Kidnapped children are taken to a school to be brainwashed and have their demons “cut off.”
