The Golden Compass

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Faithful adaptations to popular books are something of a paradox, and often leave the writer and director little room for error. Either risk alienating possible punters by sticking to the already successful published blueprint, or disregard the book's major themes and drag it towards celluloid, devoid of any excess baggage - but make it conceivably more commercial. Writer/director Weitz leans more towards the former with The Golden Compass, but nonetheless had notoriously prickly studio New Line poking its head in, pushing the more commercially viable option and safeguarding their $200 million-odd investment. Set in a parallel universe where humans have visible 'daemons' (animals personified as their outer souls), the story centres on Lyra (Richards), a spirited orphan whose explorer uncle (Craig) has left her to be educated at Jordan College. When her friend is kidnapped by a mysterious group that Nicole Kidman's maternal-but-terrifying Mrs. Coulter is involved in, she travels North to rescue him and encounters numerous magical creatures - both friend and foe - along the way. Heavily marketing Compass as a fantastical masterpiece along the lines of Lord of the Rings has done Weitz's troubled film few favours. Firstly, it doesn't have the foresight to plan as a trilogy, as all future sequels rest solely on the financial success of the first. Thus, we're introduced to an abundance of characters first time around, that seemingly serve no purpose, other than to momentarily further Lyra's journey. There are obviously a lot of stunning ideas and interesting characters tipping the surface here, but very few of them are explored with the thoroughness to serve them justice. Daniel Craig is given little to do other than swan about looking like he just stole one of Siegfried and Roy's props - which is criminal, given the context of his actions in the book; we never really know what he's about, and very little is done to try and inform us otherwise. Numerous other characters, including Scoresby, Pekkala and John Faa in particular are also underused, and nothing more than glorified set design. That said, the effects are mostly staggering and have a suitable otherworldly feel to them, while one or two sequences stand out as well-done and surprisingly brutal - elevating a possible misstep into a watchable adaptation. Still, if financial success warrants a second and third film, they had better hit the drawing board first, and flesh out some characters.