By Ryan Parsons | Image property of New Line Cinema.
The Golden Compass
While the first reviews we posted for The Golden Compass were strictly positive, we promised we'd get you some more, what's the word, mixed options before the film's release.
Golden Compass Reviews
It turns out that not everybody is completely bedazzled by New Line's latest attempt at fantasy. Mixed reviews coming atchya!
Variety
Another holiday movie season, another fantastic mythological universe to contend with. This time, it's the world -- or multiple parallel worlds -- of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, the first installment of which is "The Golden Compass," or "Northern Lights" in its original 1995 British publication. New Line's bid for another "Lord of the Rings" bonanza kicks off with writer-director Chris Weitz's impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure about a chosen girl's momentous struggle against insidious forces that would extinguish free will. Visual splendor and scent of a franchise should lure considerable crowds, especially internationally, although it's doubtful "Compass" will find a B.O. path anywhere near "Narnia," much less Middle-earth.
Hollywood Reporter
This film just might do the trick. Because Pullman's emphasis is more on youthful heroes, beguiling magic and fantastical landscapes and less on the wars and machismo of "Rings," "Golden Compass" is a "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter," in other words, than "Beowulf."
Several grand fights, one key revelation, a rescue of Lyra's playmate plus an old-fashioned "To Be Continued" ending make for a rousing finish. Witches sweep out of the night sky, bad guys when shot vanish in balls of flame and the glories of free will get celebrated by championing a child who never does what she is told. What kid won't go for all this?
The blend of live action, CG and visual effects is superb, making what must have been a technological nightmare look easy as pie.
Preferring Lord of the RingsandBeowulf over Narnia any day, I have to admit that I'm a little put off by both reviews; no matter how positive.
The Golden Compass opens to theaters on December 7th.
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