The Golden Compass

A review of the 2007 feature-length movie by Charles Austin

I've actually seen the movie, and...

Those who got their knickers in a twist about the book can relax about the movie. It is a lovely, charming, exciting, colorful adventure with a strong, intelligent girl heroine (who rescues the guy), loyal friends, clever talking animals and an alternate world that makes more sense than Narnia or the shire.

Yes, one can see the undertones, and there is the use of that word, "magisterium," for the Big Brother that wants to wipe out free will and control the world.

But is it a threat to faith? A mother said to me this morning: "my guys know what is real and what is fantasy; and they know that faith is real and fantasy isn't."

The fight between the ice bears might be a bit rough for some small children and there are several children-in-peril moments and a scary entrance into an isolated cabin.

Nicole Kidman just glows as Mrs. Coulter, the woman who looks beautiful and cool, with the loveliest shoulders seen on screen since Grace Kelly, but you know she is dangerous as all get out. And the young Dakota Blue Richards who plays Lyra is a treasure; smart, strong, dedicated; and the wiles she works on the usurper ice bear king are a treat to behold. Ian McKellan is the voice of Iorek Byrnison, the good guy ice bear, and it is the voice that makes one forget that polar bears are not cute and cuddly.

Visually it is stunning and totally engrossing. (I quickly tired of the dark castles in the Lord of the Rings cycle.)

And yes, the ending sets us up for the next movie. Lyra still has to rescue her father, we aren't sure what will become of Mrs. Coulter, and the magisterium, though one of their schemes is thwarted, still has control.

And about the daemons, borrowed from Greek philosophy. They are the "souls" of people who are their animal companions outside their bodies. The daemons of children keep changing until they become adults. Lyra's is occasionally a ferret, sometimes a flying insect, and later a round-eared cat. It is an interesting conceit of the movie.

The books probably have some more explanation of the fearsome "dust," it might be original sin; but what this dust is remains a little murky. We know the author's atheistic, anti-religion views, which apparently are very explicit in the books. So it seems that one ought to eschew the books completely. But I see nothing wrong with this movie. I found it delightful.

Charles M. Austin serves as interim pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Savior, Paramus, New Jersey.