Plenty of Sparkle, no magic

Thanks to Lord of the Rings, the finest modern “children’s” novels of modern times make their initial steps onto the screen. In Harry Potter fashion a fine adult cast of well known actors, most in barely extended cameos, are joined by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards who nails the role of 12 year old heroine Lyra.

If the cast are good, then the effects are breathtaking, 2007 is a watershed year for CGI, what with the utterly convincing transformers and now the entirely computer generated daemons, which every human is paired with, are flawless and physical in a way that previously hasn’t been possible. Aside from a few dodgy moments of Nicole Kidman’s interactions with her monkey.

The world evoked by Pullman’s novels is beautifully realized, the icy wastes, Lyra’s Oxford and the Polar bear’s kingdom are spectacular. The alternative technology is also wonderfully realised by what is clearly a passionate and talented production team.

Now comes the ‘but’. Screenwriter and director, Chris Weitz, who resigned once from the project due to fears over his own capability, has slightly dropped the ball. The film suffers from a surfeit of simple child-like narrative: an awful lot of story and geographical distance is covered but it plays out like an adaption of the wikipedia article rather than managing to convey the magic of the novel itself.

Despite a large scale final battle, and what is in the book a terrifying intercession scene, there is a lack of peril and menace. This isn’t due to the secularising of the Catholic Church inspired Magisterium into a generic ‘bad’ organisation but more to do with an endless supply of generic baddies that die in bloodless A-Team style fashion. No characters aside from conflicted villain Mrs Coulter (Nicole Kidman) are given a chance to generate any real menace, meaning that we have no-one to root against in the final battle.

There is also a lack of investment in the heroic characters aside from Lyra, there are no real story arcs (perhaps the McKellen-intoned armoured polar bear aside) and characters are given short shrift as they pop into and out of the story at random. Advertising either Bond alumni, Daniel Craig or Eva Green, as stars is misleading given their joint total screen time could be missed in a short trip to the loo.

A peculiar choice, given the flat travelogue story the dramatic and tragic, cliff-hanger ending to the novel which plays out so many of the relationships developed on Lyra’s journey has also been postponed to join the sequel. This decision, although allowing a belting opening to the next film, leaves an unfinished feel to the whole tale.

So, a missed opportunity? Undoubtedly. Terrible? No. One hopes that the director has learnt from this movie and that the remainder of the trilogy more successfully captures Pullman’s spirit. This is worth seeing, but if you’ve read the books you can’t help but feel a bit let down.