The Golden Compass, a movie based on the first book of the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman, is directly marketed to you LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia fans. While those two series have years to build their fan base, His Dark Materials Trilogy has only had a few years and competition from one Mr. Harry Potter. But, in the face of these hardships, consider this the little movie that couldn’t…do much wrong.

First, they couldn’t have cast a better Mrs. Coulter, the resident villain. Nicole Kidman epitomizes this role in very rare way. She is Mrs. Coulter. Second, they couldn’t have cast a better Lord Asriel. Daniel Craig, Mr. Bond himself, plays a cruel and maybe heroic (?) adventurer.

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Third, giving girls a strong, smart, and sassy role model. Lyra as adventurous, mischievous, and brave as any boy we’ve had to watch in their adventure tales. Yes, I love Hermione and her wealth of knowledge and Princess Leia with a skilled under pressure (at least in recording that video on R2D2). But Lyra makes friends with an armored bear such that they are forever indebted to her. Harry Potter had a house elf (no offense to Dobby).

Please try out the Golden Compass and especially read the His Dark Materials Trilogy. The Trilogy is an amazing craft of storytelling. It may be one of the best stories written in the past ten years, unfortunately it was outshined, but this doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from reading it. Pick up the books and the movie.

Filed under: Books, Media | Entertainment, Movies — Pilar @ 8:47 pm