Golden Compass, The (Blu-ray)
2-Disc Edition
APPROX. 113 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2007 - MPA RATING: PG-13
" ...if I hadn't liked Pullman's books so much, I probably would have liked this movie version more than I did.
The Movie According to Jason:
"The Golden Compass" is New Line Cinema's bid to create a new fantasy trilogy based on a series of books, a la "The Lord of the Rings" or corporate sibling Warner Brothers' "Harry Potter" franchise. While technically brilliant and a wonder to behold, the film version of the Philip Pullman novel is as cold emotionally as its snow-covered locations are environmentally.
A particle--known simply as dust--has the power to unite entire worlds and, indeed, the universe. When a young girl, Lyra Belacqua (newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), overhears talk about dust from inside a closet, her inquisitiveness is piqued. Lucky for her, an apparent benefactor in the form of Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) wants Lyra to accompany her to the great North, the only known source of dust. But before they leave, she finds other children are turning up missing. In a bid to find out where they are, Lyra enlists a cadre of allies--Gyptians, an ice bear, and other rogues--to free her friends.
The titular "The Golden Compass" is a MacGuffin in this story, an object that has real no purpose other than to propel the events on screen. It doesn't matter that the compass can answer any question posed to it by turning a set of its hands. Nor does it matter that the symbols on the compass could refer to any number of questions, let alone the specific one being asked of it.
In essence, what has been committed to film at an estimated cost of $180 million is the setup for further adventures. Much like "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Golden Compass" assembles the pieces, gives the audience a few action set pieces, but never commits to an emotional arc. The characters have their own introductory scenes, there are giant armies and computer-generated battles, ominous foreshadowing for the follow-up films, but nothing that brings the story to a close. And that's the greatest curse of the film: It doesn't amount to anything on its own. There is no sense of loss, no emotion similar to other successful fantasy epics. "Star Wars" kept Darth Vader alive to menace Luke Skywalker in potential sequels, yet the self-contained story was resolved. The main story about rescuing Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star was complete. Here, one main character (Coulter) is whisked away offscreen while another (Lord Asriel, portrayed by Daniel Craig) is left dangling in danger.
There's a moment of supposed revelation at the end of the film, one that tries to rope in our emotions and create a bigger conflict than there already is. It's a hopelessly manipulative ploy, one that doesn't deserve to be there. A cynic would think there was an ulterior motive; but since the film is based on a novel, the script has to be cut some slack in this regard.
The rest of the film? Decent enough escapist fare, which doesn't justify the bile lobbed at it by certain religious groups. The complaint, as I understand it, is the story teaches children to rebel against authority, to question the world around them, and to fight a group called "Gobblers" (or Gobs for short). Really, the accusations against "The Golden Compass" are pathetic, much like the controversy over "Harry Potter" introducing children to witchcraft. Sometimes, a movie is just a movie.
Enough cannot be said about the special effects in "The Golden Compass." As with all its cinematic siblings, computers created this world in a way unheard of even ten years ago. It's a rich and detailed world combining the best elements of Middle Earth, Coruscant (from the "Star Wars" saga), and Victorian England. With blimps running on some unknown power source and carriages on the street without the aid of horses or fossil fuels, everything we're exposed to on screen has been painstakingly designed and rendered. From the exquisite vehicles and technology to the snow-covered finale, there's nary a hair out of place. While the ice bears don't look entirely real--there is still a disconnect between reality and what a computer can create--they are the only "average" aspect of the visuals.
"The Golden Compass" is merely a prologue to the series proper. Some conspiracy with a government that's afraid its citizens will begin to think for themselves is the general outline for the rest of the plot; it's rather by the numbers and obvious, asking the audience to project our own feelings onto the common people when, in reality, the script doesn't take us there.
"The Golden Compass" never imparts the sense of epic storytelling it needs to for us to care or come back for further adventures. The story itself is content to meander along and end on a cliffhanger, hoping the big names (Kidman, Craig, Eva Green, Ian McShane, Ian McKellan, Sam Elliott, Christopher Lee, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kathy Bates) and the special effects will bring us back.
"The Golden Compass" is an oddly cold, emotionless film. Even when the ice bear Iroek is tied up in the final battle, seemingly at the end of his journey, we're struck with the feeling of "who cares" as opposed to real dread. Remember how we all felt when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Gandalf were fighting for life? That's how we should have felt here. But we don't. The film is too busy introducing characters, wowing the audience with special effects, and setting up its own universe. It should have concerned itself more with emotion and better storytelling. This film, on its own, is disappointing but not a "bad" film. Jason's film rating: 5/10.
Video:
The Blu-ray picture quality is of a kind that will please and delight most viewers and undoubtedly annoy others. The image is bright, ultraclean, somewhat glossy, slightly flat, and often soft. Now, here's the thing: The moviemakers shot "The Golden Compass" in large part with conventional film cameras and in part with digital cameras. I am only guessing here, but they may have decided they wanted the look of the two filming techniques to match as closely as possible, so they faced having either to add a small degree of grain to the digital footage or to filter some of the grain from the conventional footage. If they chose the latter route, it would explain why the image appears so polished and clear and why it doesn't always look as realistically detailed as it should. Again, it's only a guess, but that was my feeling when I first watched the film in a theater, too.
As I say, the 2.35:1, VC-1 video transfer seems a tad bland, glassy, and overly smooth for a high-definition release, even though it looks pretty much as I remember it from the movie house. Still, the colors are natural enough, and many of the special CGI effects are gorgeous. Darker scenes can be a trifle murky, it's true, but most of the film is bright enough. Additionally, there are no halos, artifacts, or evidences of noise that I noticed, so for the most part we get a solid video treatment.
Audio:
New Line's audio engineers present the sound in 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, which acquits itself nicely. The music blossoms pleasantly in the surrounds, the midrange is well focused, and the soundtrack capably distributes all sorts of noises among and between the main speakers, front and rear. The sounds aboard the Gyptians' old ship are especially impressive, and during the battle scenes we find a strong dynamic thrust and a fairly deep bass.
Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc BD set contains the feature film, with two main bonus items: a regular audio commentary with director Chris Weitz and a "visually enhanced commentary." The "enhanced" version puts little picture inserts into the proceedings, picture-in-picture, to spice up presentation and provide more visual information about the filmmaking. Things on disc one conclude with twenty scene selections (but no chapter insert), English as the only spoken language, Spanish subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired
Disc two contains the bulk of the extras, divided into two main sections. A succession of documentaries makes up the first section. These start with "The Novel: Author Philip Pullman and the Consequences of Curiosity," nineteen minutes with the writer and other filmmakers. Next is "The Adaptation of Writer-Director Chris Weitz," sixteen minutes on the getting the script right, followed by "Finding Lyra Belacqua: Introducing Dakota Blue Richards," fifteen minutes on the casting of the young star. On a trivia note, there is no listing of Ms. Richards among the cast on the back of the disc case. A curious omission, given that she's the star. After that is "Daemons," twenty minutes; "The Alethiometer," fifteen minutes; "Production Design," twenty-six minutes and my favorite part of the proceedings; "Costumes," eleven minutes; "Oxford: Lyra's Jordan," seven minutes; "Armoured Bears," seventeen minutes; "Music," twelve minutes with composer Alexandre Desplat; "The Launch: Releasing the Film," eight minutes; a poster gallery; and two theatrical trailers and a teaser trailer. Moreover, many of these documentaries also come with galleries of still pictures.
Following the documentaries are several picture galleries from the aforementioned bonus materials that the user can view as slide shows or as stills by clicking on thumbnail pictures individually. The galleries include segments on the "Alethiometer," "Amoured Bears," "Costumes," "Daemons," "Production Design," and "Posters."
The extras wrap up with a beautifully illustrated and embossed slipcover, plus a disc-case insert of collectable memorabilia, including a detailed replica of the alethiometer itself for only $145. That thing looks pretty tempting, if for me cost prohibitive.
Parting Thoughts:
I dunno. I suppose if I hadn't liked Philip Pullman's books so much, I probably would have liked this movie version of "The Golden Compass" more than I did. It's still a fascinating film and attractive to look at, but it doesn't quite open up the characters or events as well as I had hoped, content instead merely to move the plot along in short order. Well, let's trust that the final two installments in the series restore some of the books' magic. In the meantime, there is still much to enjoy in "The Golden Compass," not the least being its wonderful images and sound.
"The Golden Compass" is New Line Cinema's bid to create a new fantasy trilogy based on a series of books, a la "The Lord of the Rings" or corporate sibling Warner Brothers' "Harry Potter" franchise. While technically brilliant and a wonder to behold, the film version of the Philip Pullman novel is as cold emotionally as its snow-covered locations are environmentally.
A particle--known simply as dust--has the power to unite entire worlds and, indeed, the universe. When a young girl, Lyra Belacqua (newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), overhears talk about dust from inside a closet, her inquisitiveness is piqued. Lucky for her, an apparent benefactor in the form of Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) wants Lyra to accompany her to the great North, the only known source of dust. But before they leave, she finds other children are turning up missing. In a bid to find out where they are, Lyra enlists a cadre of allies--Gyptians, an ice bear, and other rogues--to free her friends.
The titular "The Golden Compass" is a MacGuffin in this story, an object that has real no purpose other than to propel the events on screen. It doesn't matter that the compass can answer any question posed to it by turning a set of its hands. Nor does it matter that the symbols on the compass could refer to any number of questions, let alone the specific one being asked of it.
In essence, what has been committed to film at an estimated cost of $180 million is the setup for further adventures. Much like "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Golden Compass" assembles the pieces, gives the audience a few action set pieces, but never commits to an emotional arc. The characters have their own introductory scenes, there are giant armies and computer-generated battles, ominous foreshadowing for the follow-up films, but nothing that brings the story to a close. And that's the greatest curse of the film: It doesn't amount to anything on its own. There is no sense of loss, no emotion similar to other successful fantasy epics. "Star Wars" kept Darth Vader alive to menace Luke Skywalker in potential sequels, yet the self-contained story was resolved. The main story about rescuing Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star was complete. Here, one main character (Coulter) is whisked away offscreen while another (Lord Asriel, portrayed by Daniel Craig) is left dangling in danger.
There's a moment of supposed revelation at the end of the film, one that tries to rope in our emotions and create a bigger conflict than there already is. It's a hopelessly manipulative ploy, one that doesn't deserve to be there. A cynic would think there was an ulterior motive; but since the film is based on a novel, the script has to be cut some slack in this regard.
The rest of the film? Decent enough escapist fare, which doesn't justify the bile lobbed at it by certain religious groups. The complaint, as I understand it, is the story teaches children to rebel against authority, to question the world around them, and to fight a group called "Gobblers" (or Gobs for short). Really, the accusations against "The Golden Compass" are pathetic, much like the controversy over "Harry Potter" introducing children to witchcraft. Sometimes, a movie is just a movie.
Enough cannot be said about the special effects in "The Golden Compass." As with all its cinematic siblings, computers created this world in a way unheard of even ten years ago. It's a rich and detailed world combining the best elements of Middle Earth, Coruscant (from the "Star Wars" saga), and Victorian England. With blimps running on some unknown power source and carriages on the street without the aid of horses or fossil fuels, everything we're exposed to on screen has been painstakingly designed and rendered. From the exquisite vehicles and technology to the snow-covered finale, there's nary a hair out of place. While the ice bears don't look entirely real--there is still a disconnect between reality and what a computer can create--they are the only "average" aspect of the visuals.
"The Golden Compass" is merely a prologue to the series proper. Some conspiracy with a government that's afraid its citizens will begin to think for themselves is the general outline for the rest of the plot; it's rather by the numbers and obvious, asking the audience to project our own feelings onto the common people when, in reality, the script doesn't take us there.
"The Golden Compass" never imparts the sense of epic storytelling it needs to for us to care or come back for further adventures. The story itself is content to meander along and end on a cliffhanger, hoping the big names (Kidman, Craig, Eva Green, Ian McShane, Ian McKellan, Sam Elliott, Christopher Lee, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kathy Bates) and the special effects will bring us back.
"The Golden Compass" is an oddly cold, emotionless film. Even when the ice bear Iroek is tied up in the final battle, seemingly at the end of his journey, we're struck with the feeling of "who cares" as opposed to real dread. Remember how we all felt when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Gandalf were fighting for life? That's how we should have felt here. But we don't. The film is too busy introducing characters, wowing the audience with special effects, and setting up its own universe. It should have concerned itself more with emotion and better storytelling. This film, on its own, is disappointing but not a "bad" film. Jason's film rating: 5/10.
Video:
The Blu-ray picture quality is of a kind that will please and delight most viewers and undoubtedly annoy others. The image is bright, ultraclean, somewhat glossy, slightly flat, and often soft. Now, here's the thing: The moviemakers shot "The Golden Compass" in large part with conventional film cameras and in part with digital cameras. I am only guessing here, but they may have decided they wanted the look of the two filming techniques to match as closely as possible, so they faced having either to add a small degree of grain to the digital footage or to filter some of the grain from the conventional footage. If they chose the latter route, it would explain why the image appears so polished and clear and why it doesn't always look as realistically detailed as it should. Again, it's only a guess, but that was my feeling when I first watched the film in a theater, too.
As I say, the 2.35:1, VC-1 video transfer seems a tad bland, glassy, and overly smooth for a high-definition release, even though it looks pretty much as I remember it from the movie house. Still, the colors are natural enough, and many of the special CGI effects are gorgeous. Darker scenes can be a trifle murky, it's true, but most of the film is bright enough. Additionally, there are no halos, artifacts, or evidences of noise that I noticed, so for the most part we get a solid video treatment.
Audio:
New Line's audio engineers present the sound in 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, which acquits itself nicely. The music blossoms pleasantly in the surrounds, the midrange is well focused, and the soundtrack capably distributes all sorts of noises among and between the main speakers, front and rear. The sounds aboard the Gyptians' old ship are especially impressive, and during the battle scenes we find a strong dynamic thrust and a fairly deep bass.
Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc BD set contains the feature film, with two main bonus items: a regular audio commentary with director Chris Weitz and a "visually enhanced commentary." The "enhanced" version puts little picture inserts into the proceedings, picture-in-picture, to spice up presentation and provide more visual information about the filmmaking. Things on disc one conclude with twenty scene selections (but no chapter insert), English as the only spoken language, Spanish subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired
Disc two contains the bulk of the extras, divided into two main sections. A succession of documentaries makes up the first section. These start with "The Novel: Author Philip Pullman and the Consequences of Curiosity," nineteen minutes with the writer and other filmmakers. Next is "The Adaptation of Writer-Director Chris Weitz," sixteen minutes on the getting the script right, followed by "Finding Lyra Belacqua: Introducing Dakota Blue Richards," fifteen minutes on the casting of the young star. On a trivia note, there is no listing of Ms. Richards among the cast on the back of the disc case. A curious omission, given that she's the star. After that is "Daemons," twenty minutes; "The Alethiometer," fifteen minutes; "Production Design," twenty-six minutes and my favorite part of the proceedings; "Costumes," eleven minutes; "Oxford: Lyra's Jordan," seven minutes; "Armoured Bears," seventeen minutes; "Music," twelve minutes with composer Alexandre Desplat; "The Launch: Releasing the Film," eight minutes; a poster gallery; and two theatrical trailers and a teaser trailer. Moreover, many of these documentaries also come with galleries of still pictures.
Following the documentaries are several picture galleries from the aforementioned bonus materials that the user can view as slide shows or as stills by clicking on thumbnail pictures individually. The galleries include segments on the "Alethiometer," "Amoured Bears," "Costumes," "Daemons," "Production Design," and "Posters."
The extras wrap up with a beautifully illustrated and embossed slipcover, plus a disc-case insert of collectable memorabilia, including a detailed replica of the alethiometer itself for only $145. That thing looks pretty tempting, if for me cost prohibitive.
Parting Thoughts:
I dunno. I suppose if I hadn't liked Philip Pullman's books so much, I probably would have liked this movie version of "The Golden Compass" more than I did. It's still a fascinating film and attractive to look at, but it doesn't quite open up the characters or events as well as I had hoped, content instead merely to move the plot along in short order. Well, let's trust that the final two installments in the series restore some of the books' magic. In the meantime, there is still much to enjoy in "The Golden Compass," not the least being its wonderful images and sound.
Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.
Learn more about our rating system »
