- guardian.co.uk,
- Friday May 02 2008 10:11 BST
With Middle-Earth out of the picture, Hogwarts almost behind us and Narnia taking a break, this Philip Pullman adaptation fills that gap for the spectacular, otherworldly and SFX-heavy fantasy.
It works splendidly on the effects front, which earned it a solitary Oscar, but makes few allowances for those of us who haven't read the book. Those who have tend to complain that its anti-religious position (Pullman is a vivid hater of CS Lewis' work and his Magisterium is not unlike the Catholic church) has disappeared, but its central conceit - that we all have daemons which are shape-shifters when we are children but become fixed as adults - is a delightful idea brought thrillingly to fruition.
The Golden Compass has an impressive newcomer in Dakota Blue Richards (did her parents expect future stardom when they named her?), a smart cookie who is well above the kid-actor standard. What with Daniel Craig and Eva Green, there's a Bondish sheen to proceedings - appropriately as Timothy Dalton played Craig's part in the stage adaptation. Nicole Kidman is in good form, too, and with The Big Lebowski's narrator, Sam Elliott, bringing his deep drawl and mighty face-topiary to bear, there's plenty to enjoy.
If writer-director Chris Weitz, of American Pie and About a Boy fame, has lightened Pullman's Dark Materials a touch, the film will still be scary for the young in places. It would be interesting to know how different Tom Stoppard's original script would have been, though. Will Pullman's literary sequels follow it to the screen? Its $70m take in the US (from a $180m budget) makes it less than certain.
