The Golden Compass

There8217;s something incredibly attractive about the idea of Nicole Kidman as a cold, amibitious woman used to getting her own way, and unhesitant about taking out anyone who comes in between.

Chris Weitz gets that right. Citing one of Kidman8217;s delicious roles as the upstart weather woman in To Die For, he has justified casting the actress as Mrs Coulter in this adaption of the first book in the Philip Pullman trilogy, His Dark Materials. 8220;When she raises an eyebrow, the temperature in the room drops by 10 degrees,8221; he said in one of his interviews on why he cast Kidman. Consider this against what those opposed to the decision said: she was blonde, while Mrs Coulter was supposed to be dark-haired.

Weitz, who adapted the first book for the screen dubbed The Golden Compass instead of Northern Lights, for the more visual connection, we guess, knew what he was doing. This is also evident from how he conjures the fantasy world as imagined in the book, where machines are still ornate and exotic and where every person has a daemon in the form of an animal that is always by his or her side. In the case of children, that daemon keeps changing shape.

Reportedly unsure of how he would manage the CGI effects, Weitz eventually brings them seamlessly into the film. The ice bears, for example, are a marvellous creation, down to their rippling muscles as they go bounding across the snow-scape.

As far as lavishly mounted fantasties go, The Golden Compass will find itself a creditable position alongside the Lords of the Rings, the Harry Potters and the Chronicles of Narnia. Its theme of an orphaned girl Dakota Blue Richards, making a competent debut trying to rescue her friend from a gang of child kidnappers conducting illegal experiments on kids, armed with a device whose incredible power is just that it tells the truth and don8217;t underestimate the power of that, may also be easily comprehensible to young minds.

However, it is the larger idea of the fight for 8220;free will8221; against the Establishment, about indoctrination to remove any capacity to doubt 8212;which is the crux of the trilogy 8212; that may go over them.

Interestingly, Weitz has left out any references to God or religion in the film, to the disappointment of many fans of the trilogy. While that decision may be commercially driven, given the times, it is obvious what the Establishment or the Magisterium living behind cloistered walls in ostentatious robes represents.

In the first film, Weitz does away with complicated explanations by vaguely talking of Dust, which has got something to do with how one questions established rules. But as it ends with the promise of more complex choices ahead, with more at stake than a few kidnapped kids, it may be a hard task to keep interest alive for the sequels.