“The Golden Compass” (A Movie Review)
“The Golden Compass” (Phillip Pullman) and it’s successors (”The Subtle Knife”, “The Amber Spyglass”) are an amazing set of books. Yes, they are written for a slightly younger audience than the books I usually read, but nonetheless they end up being very dark, twisted, wonderful, and action filled.
This is not the case for the movies, or at least the first one.
Despite having Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Lee, and the voice of Ian McKellen, it somehow manages to be terrible. And I think I know why.
“Me Too!” Syndrome
The movie industry has always suffered from the “Me Too!” syndrome, where if one movie is highly successful, then others of the same vein must be too! The frailty of this logic would be apparent to even a small child, and yet it still continues in modern day.
“Harry Potter” started a waterfall of fantasy movies based on books, which, in principle, is great. It gives a chance for those of us who like the books to see them adapted for the screen, much like “Harry Potter” and “Lord of the Rings” were so amazingly done. “The Dark Is Rising” was a terrible movie, and it had so much promise. The only copycat movie to have a somewhat successful and worthy release was “The Chronicles of Narnia”. And the future looks just as bleak (”The Spiderwick Chronicles”, anyone?).
What’s Wrong?
What differentiates the likes of “Harry Potter” and “Lord of the Rings” from “The Dark Is Rising” and “The Golden Compass”? It’s very simple. Only two things: believability and soundtrack.
To obtain believability in a movie is much harder than in a book. In a book, you imagine it in your head as you read, and if the author is competent, you will believe even the most terribly created world. However, in a movie, you need to coalesce visual effects, acting, set creation, and a number of other things in order to get the viewers to “buy in” to your story. Oh, and also the minor detail of being true to the story if it’s based on a book.
The other key is the soundtrack/score. Peter Jackson understood this very well with “Lord of the Rings”, and it took the movie to a totally surreal level. The problem is that too much, or too little, of a soundtrack leaves the story … lacking … something. Most people usually can’t describe it, but the movie is without a certain level of credibility. Also, the soundtrack/score must be relevant to the events and plot of the story.
Ok, So “The Golden Compass”?
“The Golden Compass” has a terrible soundtrack/score. Pay attention, and you’ll see that if the music happens to fit the events at the moment, then it sounds cheesy (like when the Gyptians are sailing to the North… it sounds like a bad Willy Wonka song). This is very distracting, and doesn’t help the movie in any fashion.
The graphics/visual effects of this movie are actually pretty good. Not the best, but good enough that it’s actually believable, so that’s not an issue.
The main problem? The acting is pretty terrible. I don’t know if they didn’t have good direction, or didn’t fully invest themselves, but almost everyone who should have been awesome were not. Daniel Craig comes off as an insane airy man, which he is not supposed to be. Nicole Kidman does a good job of being weird and creepy… but she seems to speak the words, and not act them. This happens time and time again.
The Tie-In
So, here it is: go see the movie, so you know what I’m talking about. I hope they make the two remaining sequels, because a part of me wants to believe they’ll be better, and worth their titles. But don’t expect too much. Especially the part about being true to the book.
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