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Of "Golden" Fond

Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy takes place in a complex, unwieldy world in which every character's soul takes the form of a walking, talking animal called a "daemon". There are also impressive airships, flying witches, armored ice-bears and a mysterious quasi-religious ruling class called the Magisterium. And, to be honest, the novel "The Golden Compass" (the first in the trilogy) never really caught on with me. There were just too many rules - you can't touch another person's daemon with your bare hands, if you kill the daemon you kill the person (and vice versa), and I never quite understood if you can overhear someone speaking to their daemon (or if it's more of a "Calvin & Hobbes" situation). So writer-director Chris Weitz ("About a Boy") deserves a lot of credit. He has taken Mr. Pullman's first novel and winnowed it down to a manageable two-hour film which exists somewhere between the innocuous adaptation of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and the undeniable intensity of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings". On that note, it's worth mentioning that "Compass" represents a reunion of sorts for Saruman and Gandalf - Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen appear in the film (though the latter is as the voice of an ice-bear).

Originally released under the title "Northern Lights" - but apparently dumbed-down for American audiences the way Harry Potter was suddenly hunting the stone of a sorcerer rather than a (gasp!) philosopher - Mr. Pullman's first book introduces the spunky tomboyish Lyra Belacqua (spunky tomboyish Dakota Blue Richards), an orphan who attends an idyllic school in England (or at least the England of Mr. Pullman's universe) and has some real problems with authority. Lyra is a kind of cockney Nancy Drew, always getting into some sort of mischief with her daemon Pan (short for Pantalaimon and voiced by Freddie Highmore). Her closest family is Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig, given precious few scenes), a kind of explorer who has discovered a mysterious "dust" somewhere in the northern lands (the realm of those dreaded armored bears). No sooner does Lord Asriel tell Lyra to "stay out of trouble" than she finds herself swept up in a sinister plot involving the a gang of kidnappers called "Gobblers", the unfortunately-named Mrs. Coulter (no relation) and a kind of American cowboy played in a fit of perfect casting by Sam Elliott.

The actors are all up to the challenge of lending gravitas to the proceedings. Only the stone-faced Nicole Kidman falls short as the enigmatic Mrs. Coulter - but that's as much a function of the underwritten character than of Ms. Kidman's rote performance. You know she's bad because her daemon's bad - but she slaps her daemon, so she's even worse. Mr. Weitz' script doesn't adhere as closely to its source as, say, the Harry Potter adaptations did, but - with the exception of a pandering opening voice-over and the startling exclusion of a major closing plot point - Mr. Weitz' changes work to the movie's benefit. "Compass" zips along at a good clip and, in case you missed any of Mr. Pullman's rules, the thudding soundtrack will make sure you know how to feel.

It used to be typical to say "no animals were harmed during the making of this film". In "The Golden Compass" it might be more apt to say, "no animals were used in the making of this film". And that's quite a feat - especially when you consider that each character has a daemon in tow. The rumored $180 million budget was put to fine use; the animals, in particular those finicky bears, look fantastic. It's tough to say if Mr. Pullman's dense universe will catch on with audiences. But if this "Compass" is any indication, all signs point to yes.