Dir & Writ: Chris Weitz
Based on book by Philip Pullman
- Dakota Blue Richards … Lyra Belacqua
- Nicole Kidman … Marisa Coulter
- Daniel Craig … Lord Asriel
- Freddie Highmore … Pantalaimon (voice)
- Ian McKellen … Iorek Byrnison (voice)
- Eva Green … Serafina Pekkala
- Sam Elliott … Lee Scoresby
I read, and really enjoyed, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials a while back, so I was really looking forward to this film, the first of three. Unfortunately it just isn’t very good. It should be. The story is a wonderful one, Kidman and Craig are fantastic, although Craig isn’t really on screen for all that long, and Dakota Blue Richards is wonderful as Lyra. Some of the other kids aren’t too great, but we’ll let them away. The special effects are, for the most part, superb. The polar bears in particular are fantastic.
Tags: 5 Stars, action, badly written, based on book, Chris Weitz, Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, disappointing, Eva Green, Freddie Highmore, His Dark Materials, Ian McKellen, Lyra, Nicole Kidman, polar bears, R12A, rushed, Sam Elliott, series, sff, show don't tell, special effects, The Golden Compass
