The Golden Compass (2007)

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General		Extras
Category	Fantasy	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2007
Running Time	108:37
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (59:06)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Chris Weitz
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Nicole Kidman Daniel Craig Dakota Blue Richards Ben Walker Freddie Highmore Ian McKellen Eva Green Jim Carter
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Alexandre Desplat

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (448Kb/s) English dts 6.1 ES Discrete (768Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Titling (Burned In) English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Being a fan of fantasy books and films for many years, I was intrigued by the announcement of a plan to adapt Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, for the screen. Especially interesting was that this trilogy had previously been unknown to me. On balance, this film version seems to me to be a missed opportunity to create another trilogy at the level of The Lord of the Rings. I am however keen to read the books because the story and its concepts are the best things about this film. The concept of the parallel world, its characters and story are all there but this film adaptation does not do them justice. I get the feeling that once I read the books I will be even more disappointed.

The biggest problem with this film is that an epic and complex story, set in a detailed and different world is given a far too short running time. The story feels incredibly rushed with little time for development of character and dramatic intensity. Details of the world involved are either picked up as you go along or are assumed knowledge. On the positive side, there is a lot to like about this film. Visually it is stunningly good with excellent Academy Award winning visual effects, wonderful art direction (also Oscar nominated) including marvellous sets, intricate props and wonderful costumes. The score by the 'so hot right now' Alexandre Desplat is marvellous. It is by turns dramatic, epic and also poignant and playful. The only musical misstep in the film is the stunningly average song over the final credits, Lyra by Kate Bush. To my ears it clashed very badly with the music which had gone before. Another strong ingredient is most of the casting and performances. Dakota Blue Richards is great in her 'plucked from obscurity' debut acting role. She is feisty and very believable. Daniel Craig is fine in his blink and you'll miss it role. Hopefully we will see more of him in the sequels (which are yet to be confirmed). Sam Elliot is also fun as Lee Scorsby. The best performance is probably by Ian MacKellan as the voice of the armoured fighting bear, Iorek Byrnison. Nicole Kidman on the other hand did not work for me in this role despite being both the author and director's first choice.

The film was written and directed by Chris Weitz, probably previously best known from directing About a Boy. During pre-production his role changed twice, with him initially resigning as director and then eventually being reinstated after the replacement director left due to 'creative differences'.

The story (for those like me who haven't read the books) involves a parallel universe which features very similar places as our world, however also with marked differences. In this world, people's souls take the form of an animal partner for the human. This partner changes forms at will during the human's childhood and then takes a permanent form during puberty, reflecting the personality of the human. These are referred to as daemons and have a symbiotic and extremely tight relationship with their humans. When one is hurt the other feels the pain as well. The change of these daemons to permanent form seems to relate to a substance known as dust which is considered evil by the accepted authority in this world, The Magisterium. The Magisterium is a semi-religious, semi-political organisation which wields significant power over the world. Setting himself on a course which directly challenges their power is Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), an adventurer. He has found evidence that dust will allow for travel between parallel worlds and seeks funding from Jordan College, a well heeled educational institution. Jordan College is also the location he has chosen for his young 'niece', Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards ) to live and study. She is friendly with local children from less impressive families such as her friend Roger (who supposedly has had his name changed from the book) and the local Gyptians. The Gyptians are similar to gypsies in our world but tend to live on barges and be somewhat more militant.

While Lord Asriel is setting off on his expedition to the cold north, children start to disappear and stories of them being taken by The Gobblers, a mysterious secret arm of The Magisterium. Meanwhile, Lyra has been befriended by a beautiful but mysteriously threatening woman, Mrs Coulter (Nicole Kidman). She takes Lyra from the college and transports her to London where they attend parties and other high society events. Despite the opulence, Lyra soon starts to realise that all is not well and decides to run away and attempt to rescue the children from The Gobblers. In this endeavour she is assisted by Iorek Byrnison, an armoured (and English speaking) fighting bear after she helps him regain his self-respect. She also adds Lee Scorsby, an aeronaut and the Gyptians to her ragtag army. Together they set of to the north to try and find the missing children.

The Golden Compass in the title refers to an mythical instrument called an Alethiometer, which looks somewhat like a large compass but has a completely different purpose. It is an instrument which tells the truth about any situation, however, can only be used by a very small number of people. A group of witches led by Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green) have prophesied that a young girl (possibly Lyra) will be able to read the device. This is threatening to The Magisterium. It is interesting to note that author Philip Pullman did not actually entitle the first book The Golden Compass but rather that title was bestowed on it by mistake by the US publisher. He does, however, seem to have been heavily involved in the making of this film as evidenced by his continuous presence in the extras on the 2 disc edition.

Overall, this film is obviously based on some wonderful source material which although well realised visually has not been made into a great film due to a restricted running time and lack of quality storytelling in the screenplay.

Video

The video quality is excellent.

The feature is presented in a 2.42:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is very close to the original 2.35:1.

The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There was occasionally some very light grain in backgrounds.The shadow detail was excellent.

The colour was very good but somewhat muted seemingly in keeping with the film's colour palette. There were no colour blemishes of any kind.

There were no noticeable artefacts.

There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read. There are also burned in captions for non-English languages.

The layer change occurs at 59:06 and is very obvious causing a slight stutter.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The audio quality is excellent.

This DVD contains three audio options an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s, an English DTS 6.1 DTS-ES soundtrack and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.The DTS-ES track is a ripper lending incredible atmosphere and immersion to the soundtrack. The Dolby Digital is also excellent for those without DTS playback but the DTS is my recommended option.

Dialogue was very clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

The score of this film by Alexandre Desplat is excellent and sounds wonderful on this transfer. The music uses all the speakers and the subwoofer to great effect.

The surround speakers were in constant use during this film providing excellent immersion and atmosphere throughout and really standing out during the bear fight and other action scenes.

The subwoofer is also used constantly for music, the airship, the bear roars and lots of other stuff.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

This film is available in three different editions her in Region 4. This review is for the bare bones 1 disc edition and I will be doing a separate review for the 2 Disc SD DVD edition. We will also be publishing in the near future a review of the 2 Disc Blu-ray edition. Both SD releases include unskippable piracy warnings.

Menu

The menu design is very good including an intro, scenes from the film and a motif based on the compass itself..

Sneak Peak

Trailer for Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser.

As mentioned above there are multiple versions of this release available on SD DVD. The Region 1 releases follow a very similar pattern and the seemingly the only difference between this and the equivalent release in the US is the PAL/NTSC differences. Let's call it a draw.

The video quality is excellent.

The audio quality is excellent including a great DTS-ES track.

This is a bare bones edition.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall