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Director: Chris Weitz

Release Date: 5 December 2007

Tagline: “It is the Alethiometer. It tells the truth. As for how to read it, you’ll have to learn by yourself.”

Main Cast:

Nicole Kidman … Mrs Coulter

Daniel Craig … Lord Asriel

Dakota Blue Richards … Lyla

I generally like fantasy films and I was hoping for a slick film with adventure and a sturdy plot. Unfortunately, The Golden Compass is tedious, clichéd, confusing and poorly acted. I nearly switched it off on more than one occasion, but decided to stick with it.

There seems to be a worrying trend growing where some of our finest actors are becoming no more than bit parts in this genre (particularly Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen). As for the children, the obligatory ’street urchins’ were too much for me to bear, and the children’s accents seemed to switch from slightly plummy to (embarrassingly bad) cockney with alarming regularity. Nicole Kidman’s talent is wasted in such rubbish and I wondered what she was doing in it. Her role was so undemanding that it could have been played by anyone with a modicum of talent.

Because it is flawed in almost every area it is very hard for me to come up with any redeeming features. However, I do like talking animals and it had a few of them in it Having said that though, they were neither engaging nor amusing and Iorek was too much like Aslan (of the Narnia Chronicles) for me.

Perhaps children in the age range of seven to twelve might enjoy this (mostly girls), but there are other films of this genre that are far superior (Stardust being one of them). I was glad when it ended and will not be watching any future sequels. Very disappointing.

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