'The Golden Compass': A Review, of Sorts

I don't cover movies much in this blog, but The Golden Compass, the new fantasy/adventure film from New Line Cinema, is a special case.

Though it's not out until tomorrow, the movie has been the subject of controversy for weeks already thanks to the explicit anti-religious message of the book trilogy it's based on. The Catholic League has led the campaign, denouncing the film as a piece of bigoted propaganda aimed at impressionable children. Meanwhile, atheists and other Pullman fans -- I count myself a member of both camps -- have been worried for reasons of their own, ever since an August report suggesting the studio had sought to keep the books' irreligiosity from making it into the screenplay.

Well, I saw The Golden Compass last night, and here's my verdict: Atheists won't be disappointed. Pullman-lovers will.

Yes, in general the movie goes out of its way to refer to the sinister entity as "the Magisterium" rather than the Church, and yes, there's a lot of vague talk about authority and free will and such, rather than sin and salvation. But it will still be perfectly clear to anyone over 15 that the Magisterium is the Church. The word "heresy" is used often. And, in fact, the portrayal of the original sin doctrine as a tool of oppression is much more explicit in the film than I remember it being in the first installment of the trilogy.

That's a good sign, because The Golden Compass is actually the least controversial book of the trilogy, by far. The real Christian-baiting elements -- a pair of gay angels, a nun who quits the convent for the pleasures of science and sensuality, and the euthanizing of God -- are yet to come.

Now for the bad news: The Golden Compass is a pretty bad movie. Chris Weitz, the screenwriter and director, doesn't know how to tell a story. The writer's adage is show, don't tell, but Weitz feels the need to tell and show, the more redundantly, the better. Virtually every significant piece of plot is spelled out in advance with a bit of expository dialogue or voice-over. (The alethiometer, the device referred to in the title, is actually explained three times.) Weitz seems to think mystery and suspense are plot problems to be solved as quickly as possible rather than narrative tools to pull the viewer along. No doubt this is a function of the film's young target audience: It seems to be pitched at 8-year-olds, whereas the books are intended for 12- or 13-year-olds. The kids at last night's screening certainly loved it, but young teenagers -- not to mention Pullman's large adult following -- will be disappointed.

Earlier: Marketing a kids' film about atheism.