Review of The Golden Compass (2007) by Kelli B — 27 May 2017

As a fan of the His Dark Materials series, it's hard to know where to start with how disappointing this adaptation was. It was predictable that a film would skip over some details, but this film skipped over MAJOR ones, presumably because the filmmakers didn't have the stones to tell the Catholic Church to go screw when they raised objections about Pullman's atheistic undertones. But there were other things. The meaning behind Dust got watered down, the rules about daemons were barely given any explanation, and the film showed things out of order, ruining the end.

And I like Daniel Craig, but he was horribly miscast as Lord Asriel. Asriel is a powerful and foreboding figure, which Daniel Craig's brooding boyishness just couldn't pull off. The role needed someone dark and swarthy. Christopher Lee, old as he was, would have been far better at pulling off the role, at least by appearance.

Nor was Ian McKellen very good in his turn as Iorek Byrnison. He lent too much humanity to a character who, as a bear, is supposed to be inscrutable to humans.

Nicole Kidman did a reasonably good job as Mrs. Coulter, as she pulls off the duplicity between charm and evil fairly well.

This movie could definitely use a remake, one which is truer to the series and sets the stage for the later installments. It should NOT be made to be a kid's movie.