The Golden Compass: Special Edition (Blu-ray) (2007) |
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The Golden Compass: Special Edition (Blu-ray) (2007) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Fantasy |
Audio Commentary-Writer/Director Featurette-The Novel Featurette-Making Of-Adaptation Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Casting, Costumes, Daemons, Production Design Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Alethiometer, Oxford, Armoured Bears, Music, Launch Gallery-Photo-Multiple Gallery-Poster Theatrical Trailer-x2 Teaser Trailer |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2007 | ||
| Running Time | 113:17 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Chris Weitz |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Nicole Kidman Daniel Craig Dakota Blue Richards Ben Walker Freddie Highmore Ian McKellen Eva Green Jim Carter |
| Case | Amaray Variant | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Alexandre Desplat |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Spanish |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Moral outrage is a funny thing. Handled well it can generate huge revenues for a film, but handled poorly it can sink titans. The Golden Compass is a great example of the latter. Phillip Pullman's original novel had been a high-profile bestseller for a decade before serious production began on its film adaptation, but it wasn't until the film adaptation began garnering media attention that Christians across the USA began to vocally object to the novel's themes. Repeated attacks from Christian lay groups, rather than the church themselves (who explicitly dismissed the perceived issues), sank the film at the US box office (though not in the evidently more tolerant rest of the world) and forced the filmmakers to dull the teeth of the story in an effort to placate the torch wielding mob.
Specifically, the mob objected to the concept of "The Magisterium", an organisation that can be likened to the church of the world the story is set in, who are portrayed as the villains of the story. Pullman's writing questions blind faith and attacks those who would exploit it to further their own ends and to hamper free thought and expression. Ironically, the objections raised against the story tend to validate its thesis.
The concept of the Magisterium has been rather watered down by the film. The varying shades of grey in the story have been repainted in black and white. Whilst this doesn't entirely ruin the story it certainly weakens the plot. Fans of the book have also objected to the fact the film hacks off the last couple of chapters of the book in order to finish the film on a positive note.
In the wide spectrum of family/fantasy films that have made their way to screens in the past few years, The Golden Compass fits somewhere in the middle in terms of quality. It is a good movie, but certainly not a great one; Miles ahead of Eragon and Seeker: The Dark is Rising, but certainly no Lord of the Rings. The story lacks the exploration it needs to really strike a chord with viewers. That said there is enough story to keep the film ticking over and certainly enough eye-candy to make the film worth a look.
Enough of a history lesson for now (off my soapbox), the plot of the film (as previously explained in our review of the DVD Single Disc edition and 2 Disc Edition) is thus:
The story 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 this 2 disc edition.
The film is presented in its original theatrical 2.40:1 aspect ratio in 1080p, VC-1 encoded video.
The Golden Compass looks stunning in high definition, although the CGI-heavy visuals rend to appear quite artificial. Whilst the disc makes for excellent demo material, I have no doubt that there is capacity for future films to look better if they are able to look more natural.
The image is incredibly sharp. There is no sign of grain or any low level noise. Black levels and shadows contain an excellent amount of detail and display genuine depth. The colours are bold and vivid, displaying a deep palette and excellent contrast. The film uses reds and bronze/gold metallic tones as a visual motif. These colours stand out as intended and feature excellent depth.
There is no sign of compression artefacts or film artefacts in the transfer.
English subtitles are present for the feature. They appear to be accurate and well-timed.
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This disc is a must-buy for gearheads. The film features a single full-bitrate DTS-MA 7.1 audio track that will show off any capable audio system. Players not equipped for DTS-MA should happily play back the core DTS track in the soundtrack, which does not sound quite as impressive as the DTS-MA but isn't far behind (based on observations of listening to the soundtrack before and after upgrading the Playstation 3 firmware to pick up DTS-MA decoding ability).
The soundtrack is anything but subtle, making full use of all the surrounds and subwoofer. The mix is very aggressive and makes for an impressive show at first, however as the film progresses the bombastic audio begins to distract rather than enhance the film.
The dialogue is crystal clear, but frequently a little low in the mix and overpowered by the music and effects.
Alexandre Desplat's score fits the film well, but tends to be a little overpowering in the mix.
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This film is available in three different editions here in Region 4. This review is for the 2 Disc Blu-ray edition. We have previously published a review of the one disc bare bones DVD edition and 2 Disc Special Edition. All extras are presented in 1080p and subtitles are available. This Blu-ray edition features all the extras contained on the DVD 2 Disc Special Edition, save for a trailer for Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and features an additional picture-in-picture aspect to the commentary track.
The menu design is stunning. Making full use of HD resolution it includes an intro, scenes from the film and a motif based on the compass itself.
Whatever you or I may think of the final product it is obvious from this commentary that Chris Weitz cares deeply about this source material and his film. This is a high quality commentary in which he discusses changes made from the story in the book, simplifications required to the story, locations, the politics of the story, visual effects, art direction, the characters, the story and choices made during production.
Making use of Blu-ray Profile 1.1, this function plays back the same audio commentary mention above with additional picture-in-picture windows on top of the main feature that display mountains of behind-the-scenes footage that is relevant to what's going on on-screen and occasionally footage of the commentator. This feature is incredibly well implemented. The PIP window appears in different corners of the screen at different times to help ensure the focal content of the film is always identifiable. The footage contained in the window is fascinating, particularly the insight it gives into green-screen and animatronic effects. This feature makes an already good commentary an essential viewing experience.
This disc features an option to play all the featurettes on the disc.
Good quality and open documentary about the author according to himself and various literary types. It covers the inspiration of the books (Paradise Lost by Milton), the US title change, the author's background, writing career, the genesis of the book, the stage play version and his involvement in the film. Well worth a look.
Another honest & open featurette (certainly compared to US productions) which explores the role of Chris Weitz including his resignation, replacement and reinstatement as director. Covers pre-production, how he came into contact with the books, other writers and directors considered and what of their stuff remains. He candidly discusses fan reaction to stuff he changed and the cast chat about working with him.
Featurette about the process of finding the young actress to play Lyra including open casting calls, audition footage, the process of deciding and interview material with the young lady herself. Interesting.
Featurette about the daemons, from the perspective of what they are, what the author thinks about them and also how they were realised in the movie. Another quality featurette.
35 still images viewable either as a slideshow or interactively.
Featurette about the Golden Compass. Covers author's views and how they created the functional props used in the film including the use of their own forge to cast the bronze. Another quality featurette.
A handsomely put together interactive gallery allowing the viewer to look at each symbol on the compass to get its meaning.
An extensive and interesting featurette about the Oscar nominated production design including prop making, use of circles and ovals, vehicles, lights, snow and weaponry. Shows the incredible level of detail which was involved and the painstaking effort to make sets and props.
3 separate galleries for Objects (28 stills), Vehicles (9) & Environmental (85).
Featurette about the costumes including the designers vision, her very large team and fitting or interview footage for Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig & Sam Elliott.
56 still images viewable either as a slideshow or interactively.
Covers the role of the city of Oxford in providing locations and inspiration for the imaginary college in the film.
Interesting featurette about the fighting bears from the story and how they were realised in the film including use of CGI, technical and scale issues, use of Grizzly and Polar bears as input, creating the armour, inflatable models and the voice talent used. Good stuff.
12 still images viewable either as a slideshow or interactively.
Featurette about the writing of and recording of the wonderful score of the film including discussion of the various themes used and influences.
Behind the Scenes footage of the Cannes launch and the World Premiere press junket.
16 still images viewable either as a slideshow or interactively.
Contains footage not in the final film.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This Region B Blu-ray is identical to the equivalent Region A Blu-ray edition.
A decent family/fantasy outing, but one that will leave many viewers lamenting how much better it could have been.
The video and audio are both excellent, though not perfect. The HD video and sound are markedly better than could be expected on standard definition DVD.
This disc makes for excellent demo material, particularly if you have high-end equipment to show off.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony Playstation 3, using HDMI output |
| Display | Samsung 116cm LA46M81BD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
| Audio Decoder | Pioneer VSX2016AVS. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Pioneer VSX2016AVS |
| Speakers | 150W DTX front speakers, 100W centre and 4 surround/rear speakers, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub |