On 18 November 2019, I watched on DVD The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Derek Jacobi among others (plus a host of famous thespians voicing various of the daemons).
Directed by Chris Weitz, The Golden Compass is the 2007 movie version of Northern Lights (retitled The Golden Compass in the USA), which in turn is the first book in Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. It makes for interesting comparisons with what was then an ongoing 8-part BBC One weekly TV mini-series of the same book (but entitled His Dark Materials, which is strictly the collective title of the entire trilogy), which I was also watching at that time. Obviously the approx. 8-hour length of the mini-series enables it to provide much more detail and storytelling than can be crammed into the movie's mere 1 hr 40 min, but visually the movie looks better – much more fantastical, colourful, and stunningly beautiful than the often dark and dreary-looking mini-series.
The story is set in an alternate Earth to ours, ruled by the authoritarian quasi-religious Magisterium, but it is also an Earth in which every human is irrevocably linked from birth to an animal companion – a daemon – whose species reflects the human's inner nature. Indeed, the daemon is a physical manifestation of the human's soul. So, for instance, a brave, bold person may have an eagle or a lion as their daemon, whereas a timid person's daemon may be a mouse or some innocuous bird, and an evil, dangerous person's daemon a snake or a venomous insect. Sometimes the daemon can talk, and will converse freely with its human as a friend and guide, but certain humans' daemons cannot, or do not, talk. The golden monkey daemon of the ostensibly affable but ultimately terrifying Mrs Marisa Coulter, for instance, is seemingly mute. In both the movie and the mini-series, the daemons are brought to the screen as computer-generated creations rather than using real animals, but they are extremely realistic – the snow leopard daemon of Lord Asriel Belacqua is absolutely breathtaking, as if it has just stepped down from the snowy slopes of the Himalayas.
The principal storyline (there are many subplots too) sees Lyra on a journey of discovery, not only seeking her father and the answer to why a mysterious substance called Dust is of such interest to the Magisterium, but also striving to track down a series of secretly-abducted children, apparently stolen away by the equally secretive Gobblers. She is assisted by a diverse range of companions, including a war polar bear and his aviator acquaintance, the nomadic Gyptians (some of whose children are among those who have been kidnapped), and an aloof order of sky witches – plus an arcane device called an alethiometer (i.e. the golden compass of the movie's title) that foretells the future and which Lyra is inexplicably able to utilize, even though the most learned of scholars cannot. Eventually she discovers the horrific reason why the children have been abducted and what is being done to them, under the auspices of Mrs Coulter.
Both Nicole Kidman in the movie and the mini-series' Ruth Wilson are suitably chilling as Mrs Coulter. However, the child actress playing Lyra Belacqua in the movie (Dakota Blue Richards) scores major points over the mini-series' Lyra (Dafne Keen) inasmuch as I could clearly understand every word that she said, whereas in the mini-series I've finally had to resort to subtitles in order to comprehend everything that its Lyra says.
Various plot variations between the two versions. For example, whereas Lyra learns who her father is quite early on in the mini-series (Lord Belacqua, played by James McAvoy) thanks to a tempestuous outburst from Mrs Coulter, in the movie Coulter doesn't reveal this crucial fact until much later on in the story and in a totally different location (Lord Belacqua is played here by Daniel Craig). No passing of characters back and forth between Lyra's version of Earth and ours occurs in the movie, whereas it does feature in the mini-series. And so on.
Overall, however, both versions for me are equally enjoyable, but from a purely visual point of view The Golden Compass movie unquestionably trumps His Dark Materials TV mini-series. But don't take my word for it. Click here to watch an official trailer for the movie, and here to watch one for the mini-series, and make up your own mind accordingly.
Interestingly, the TV mini-series has proved so successful than a second series has now been produced, covering the second book in Pullman's trilogy in 7 episodes. It is due to be screened later this year, and I'll definitely be watching it – but meanwhile, here is a trailer to whet your appetite!
And to view a complete listing of all of my
Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film/TV reviews and articles (each one instantly
accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
No comments:
Post a Comment