A few years back I picked up Philip Pullman's fantasy children's novel Northern Lights (yes I am a little old), and in no time at all I had polished off the entire 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.
It's an interesting yarn, which tips its hat in the direction of Tolkien and Pratchett, but which by the end of the final book (The Amber Spyglass) fails to live up to its full potential.
So I wasn't really expecting much when I sat down to watch Hollywood's take on the story. But all the same, I was pleasantly surprised.
The Golden Compass is a well made, well told, well acted and well directed fantasy film.
The plot is on the whole faithful to Pullman's novel, although it has been said that the lead character, Lyra Belacqua (played by Dakota Blue Richards - yes that is her name), is a lot less irritating in the film version.
The story follows the adventures of Lyra who lives in a parallel universe to our own, where people's souls take the form of animals known as daemons. Lyra goes on a quest to discover why young people are being abducted and shipped off to the North Pole, and what their disappearance has to do with a mythical substance known as 'dust'.
There's a stellar cast in The Golden Compass, with James Bond himself, Daniel Craig playing the adventurous Lord Asriel and Nicole Kidman turning in a chilling performance as the ice maiden Mrs Coulter.
And just to further enforce the comparisons between Lord of the Rings and this the first outing of the Pullman trilogy, Gandalf himself (aka Ian McKellan) take on the role of the mighty armed ice bear Iorek Byrnison, while Saruman (aka Christopher Lee) gets his teeth into the role of the First High Councillor.
The story may sound bonkers, but it's a good excuse for a bit of escapism, and I for one am looking forward to the next two films in the trilogy.
The Golden Compass trailer
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