The Golden Compass (New Line 2-Disc Platinum Series) DVD Review
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 05.03.2008
Can a massive amount of Special Features make up for a film's failing? Let's find out...
Starring: Dakota Blue Richards - Lyra Belacqua Nicole Kidman - Marisa Coulter Daniel Craig - Lord Asriel Freddie Highmore - Pantalaimon (Voice) Ian McKellen - Iorek Byrnison (Voice) Sam Elliott - Lee Scoresby Eva Green - Serafina Pekkala Ian McShane - Ragnar Sturlusson (Voice) Kathy Bates - Hester (Voice) Ben Walker - Roger Parslow Clare Higgins - Ma Costa Jim Carter - John Faa Tom Courtenay - Farder Coram Kristin Scott Thomas - Stelmaria (Voice) Jack Shepherd - Master of Jordan College Simon McBurney - Fra Pavel Magda Szubanski - Mrs. Lonsdale Christopher Lee - Magisterium First High Councilor Derek Jacobi - Magisterial Emissary. Charlie Rowe - Billy Costa
DVD Release Date: 4/29/2008 Running Time: 113 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence.
Fantasy was, for many years, considered the bastard child of film genres. Sort of the successor to the sword-and-sandal epics of the 50's, it long-suffered from the stigma of cheap production values, cheesy scripts, poor acting, and difficulty for the more mainstream audience to relate to. The Wizard of Oz was the only real fantasy success story of the early days of cinema, surrounded by multitudes of failures for decades to come. It wasn't until the 1980's that there was any decent number of fantasy films in production at all, and even then those that would become either critically or commercially successful, such as Conan the Barbarian, Clash of the Titans, The Last Unicorn or The Dark Crystal that would come out, there were horrendous bombs and dogs like Xanadu, Flash Gordon, or Masters of the Universe that would remind people how sub-par of a genre it was. Studios and audiences refused to give fantasy a chance even into the 90's, with movies like the Sean Connery/Dennis Quaid Dragonheart, the Highlander sequels, and in particular the 2000 dud Dungeons and Dragons--competing with Xanadu for the worst big-budget fantasy film ever made--continuing to bury the genre.
Luckily, a boy wizard and a midget with a ring saved all that. The Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises took fantasy straight out of the dirty closets of cinema, right into the mainstream. The two series, critically-acclaimed and unbelievably successful, gave fantasy fans around the world hope. Since those two franchises, many other films have attempted to capitalize on their success. The Chronicles of Narnia have done well so far with one film in the bag; Bridge to Terabithia was able to ride the wave of success. Others, such as The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Eragon, and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale have not done as well or straight-out bombed. In the midst of all of this came a movie based on a controversial little fantasy series known as "His Dark Materials," The Golden Compass. Produced by New Line Cinema and inspiring controversy for being anti-Christian, it was released in theaters on December 7th, failing domestically but doing well overseas.
The Movie
The film is the story of Lyra Belacqua (Richards), a young orphan girl living in a parallel universe to our own in which a person's soul resides outside the body in the form of an animal called a dæmon. She lives at Jordan College in Oxford, which like the rest of Europe is under the rule of an authoritarian group known as the Magisterium. The college has been prey to a group known as the Gobblers who abduct children. Despite this, Lyra is a spry, witty and persuasive young girl, who looks subtlely down upon the water-traveling Gyptian people and enjoys misadventures with her friend Roger (Walker). One of these misadventures leads her to prevent the assassination of her uncle Asriel (Craig), an adventurer and scientist who is arguing the heretical notion that a substance called "Dust" allows travel between alternate universes. Soon after, Lyra catches the eye of Mrs. Coulter (Kidman), a charming yet devious woman who works for the Magisterium, and after receiving a truth-revealing alethiometer from the Master of the College, is plunged into an adventure that takes her to meet talking Nordic Bears, flying witches, and aeronauts as she tries to rescue the Gobbled children.
The Golden Compass was New Line's attempt to capitalize on its own success with The Lord of the Rings, and unfortunately, in trying to do so, they made an enormous mistake. There is, in film-making, a rule of "gimmes." An audience will only accept so many things for granted. Take Transformers, for example. Gimme #1: There is a group of talking robots from the planet Cybertron who have brought their war with each other here to Earth. Gimme #2: The All-Spark is a device that will turn machines into living robots. Those are the only gimmes in that film, and everything else is based off of that, so the audience can accept the rest of the events. The Golden Compass has far too many gimmes. In the opening moments of the film, we are told that there is a parallel universe, that souls in this universe exist in dæmons, that Dust allows the travel across universes, that the Magisterium controls the world and has destroyed all alethiometers but one...and more. There is far too much information thrown at the audience in the opening moments, or introduced later (such as the talking Ice Bears) without proper explanation. The end result is that the film feels drastically incomplete, and that there's far more to the story that was left on the cutting-room floor, or out of the script. Some character arcs, such as that of the more interesting Asriel or armored bear Iorek (McKellan), seem incomplete and side-tracked in order to focus on the struggle between Lyra and Mrs. Coulter. The incomplete feel is compounded by the fact that the film was intended to be the first of a trilogy, and the abrupt end to the film is both anti-climactic and unsatisfying.
The supposed "anti-Christian" tone of the movie is, not surprisingly, drastically overblown. While the Magisterium is very clearly a representation of the Catholic Church, many of the anti-Catholic elements that are supposedly in the book (which I have not read) are cut out or toned down in the film. The conflict instead becomes a more general one of Authoritarianism vs. Free Thought, a far more relatable concept. The Magisterium is given broad strokes with a black brush, and are clearly the Evil Empire, though Mrs. Coulter is allowed some moral grayness--or at least a chance to show she believes what she is doing is for the best. The worst offenders in terms of the anti-Christian argument is the use of terms like dæmon (pronounced “demon”) or names like Asriel (Azrael is the name of a fallen angel), but these are superficial and easily passed by. The film is less anti-Church then The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was pro-Christian, and in this, I can consider the supposed controversy null and void.
The acting in the film is quite good. Most of the film, of course, falls on the young newcomer Dakota Blue Richards to fill the shoes of the protagonist, Lyra. Richards gives Lyra a mischievous charm, imbuing her with an excellent, understated Cockney accent (which, admittedly, may be natural) and making her immediately likable. Richards is able to carry the weight of the role during the serious moments, as well as portray Lyra’s optimism and idealism. It’s a rare feat for a twelve-year-old girl to be able to pull off, and she does it very well. Equally good is Daniel Craig in his criminally brief yet very important role as Lord Asriel. Craig is a very gifted actor who I love to see on the screen, and he lights up every moment he’s in frame. The voice work of Freddie Highmore, Ian McKellan and Ian McShane as (respectively) Lyra’s demon and the prominent Ice Bears is excellent and a high note for each of them. Sam Elliot is a joy to watch as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby. The biggest misstep in performances comes from Kidman. Her Mrs. Coulter is not horrible by any stretch, but it seems somewhat stilted, and when it comes time for her to reveal her moral gray area (as well as a major, if obvious, plot twist), she overacts it a bit. In a lesser cast, this wouldn’t stand out, but in this film it does.
The other high note is the production design and special effects. While perhaps not quite as good as touted—it surely should not have won the Academy Award over Transformers or Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End—it is nonetheless a splendid film to watch. Everything is shown with an incredible attention to detail, from the splendor of the capital city to the rugged frontier of the frigid north. Fight scenes are very well choreographed and never seem so chaotic that one is lost in the action. The vivid imagery almost makes one forget the gaping problems with the plot—almost, but not quite. Unfortunately, the plot just presents too many questions that are never answered and far too weak of an ending—an obvious lead-in to the next movie, which is a plot device I’ve never liked—for anything else to overcome. Rumors over whether the sequels will be made are murky, thanks to the weak domestic but strong foreign box office results, and should the next films come out, this one may stand up well as a part of a greater whole. Unfortunately, viewed on its own—as it may be destined to be—the film stands as a mediocre entry into the fantasy genre and an ultimately forgettable film.
Film Rating: 5.0
Technical Aspects
The Golden Compass is presented in the original theatrical 2.35:1 ratio, and the video transfer is nothing short of crystal-clear. The contrast between light scenes and dark scenes isn’t jarring in any way, and the visual effects come off beautifully; New Line clearly put some attention into making sure the film appeared as attractive at home as it did in the theater. The audio options are DTS 6.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1, both of which are fully admirable and enjoyable. The subtitle options are Spanish and English. The amount of care put into the technical aspects are noticable and make the movie as enjoyable as possible.
Technical Rating: 9.0
Special Features
New Line also went all-out on the special features…specifically on the Two-Disc version. The single-disc version has no special features.
Audio Commentary with writer/director Chris Weitz: The commentary track is quite interesting, as Weitz goes into a high level of detail about the writing and making of the film. He talks about the cast, the work with green-screen, and the shooting locations vs. sound stage. Of particular note is his bits on the changes he had to make in the book to make it into what he considered a viable movie. It’s obvious that Weitz has a great passion for the film, and he makes the commentary interesting throughout.
The Novel (19:07): Featuring the author Phillip Pullman, as well as interviews with film-makers and scholars, this is a fairly in-depth featurette about the trilogy of novels and their success and impact. Pullman touches on the inspirations of the novel, the themes, and the characters.
The Adaptation (16:11): This featurette discusses the process of making the film, starting from the selection of Chris Weitz to write and direct and going all the way through the writing process into the shoot. Weitz resigned as director after turning in the script due to the concern of being reviled by the book’s fans and the concern that New Line just wanted another Lord of the Rings, but returned after re-writing.
Finding Lyra Belacqua - Introducing Dakota Blue Richards (15:08): We get Richards’s audition tape here, as well as the usual interviews by Richards and praise from cast and crew. Richards seems to have a bright future should she continue making movies, as she seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and plenty of talent.
The Dæmons (15:08): Another long featurette, this one focusing on the dæmons and how they were introduced in order to bring the book to life. The technical aspects of shooting around the dæmons is discussed, and a a gallery of dæmon sketches is provided.
The Alethiometer (14:57): Fifteen minutes of discussion of the little compass that means so much to the plot. It shows the creation of the pieces, and also includes gallery art.
Production Design (26:02): As the production design was so integral to this film, it makes sense that this featurette is the longest. Dennis Gasner, the production designer, takes us through the entire process and the attention to detail that made the film look so damn good. Again, we get gallery art.
Costumes (11:49): Pretty much what it describes, as costume designer Ruth Meyers takes us through a detailed look at the costumes for many of the characters. At this point, the featurettes really start to become overkill. Yes, again we have a gallery at the end of the short.
Oxford - Lyra’s Jordan (7:32): A little bit more interesting then the costumes, this talks about how they turned the Oxford we all know into the one of the film.
Armoured Bears (17:42): Almost eighteen minutes on the design, creation, and staging of the ice bears of the North. We see the fight being choreographed through a staging process, and the excellent voice actors at work. The CGI development of course gets a good mention as well. Again, we get gallery art.
Music (11:50): At this point, I was in featurette fatigue. New Line just piled too many on, and while a true fan of the film may be enthralled by all of this, I could have done without twelve minutes on the score. It’s interesting enough for what it is, I suppose.
Launching (7:58): We see a press conference from Cannes, then the premiere from December, and how Richards deals with the press and media. Avoidable.
After all of this, there is still more galleries, and the three trailers. An absolutely exhaustive (and exhausting) set of features that flirts with overkill.
Special Features Rating: 7.0
The 411: I really wanted to like The Golden Compass. It's a beautiful, well-acted film that is unfortunately buried by being too obviously one part of a greater whole. At only two hours, the film could have taken a little more time to explain the many background details that often are given slip-shod descriptions and nothing more. While the film is no Lord of the Rings, it's certainly no Dungeons and Dragons or Eragon, and if the next movies get made I'll be interested to see if they make this film better. The Two-Disc DVD is absolutely packed with special features that make it a far more interesting movie then it otherwise would have been, but even then seems like it's almost too much trying to make up for the failings of the film. Worth checking out, though not worth owning unless you're a true fan of the books or movie.
