Film focus

WHAT: “The Golden Compass”

RATED: PG-13 (sequences of fantasy violence)

RATING: 2 stars

RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes

‘Golden Compass’ has great effects, but faulty story direction

“The Golden Compass” offers a world of talking animals, flying witches, majestic airships and lead-balloon storytelling.

Adapting the first book in Philip Pullman’s “Dark Materials” trilogy, director and screenwriter Chris Weitz presents an almost unrelentingly grim tale that’s too dark for younger kids and not quite thoughtful or exciting enough for adults.

For most of its length, the picture fails to develop supporting characters or fully explore Pullman’s complex themes. Just when the pieces start to fall into place, the movie ends, its unanswered questions presumably left for a sequel to resolve.

On a technical level, this effects-laden film succeeds quite smashingly. Yet it lacks the narrative clarity necessary to fuel a large-scale fantasy adventure of its sort.

That clarity might have gotten lost in the “dust” connecting universes parallel to the one inhabited by 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards). In Lyra’s world, a person’s soul takes the form of an animal companion, or daemon.

Lyra’s uncle, the explorer and scientist Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), sees great things in the dust. For his trouble, the Magisterium – a kind of papal-Orwellian governing body – tries to poison him. (Pullman’s writings have been accused of being anti-religious, but the film isn’t compelling enough to be persuasively anti- or pro-anything).

Asriel survives, but Craig, though supposedly one of the film’s leads, is not long for “The Golden Compass.” Soon after the film begins, Asriel leaves Oxford, England, to explore points far north.

Though minus her uncle, Lyra is guided by a compass that always points to the truth. The compass does not, however, elucidate what makes Lyra special enough to possess this instrument, the last of its kind.

Asriel’s absence creates a gap for the glamorous Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) to enter. Dressed to the nines, Kidman evokes great female screen stars of the past. Her hair is very Marilyn Monroe and her manner and eyebrows reminiscent of Joan Crawford.

Mrs. Coulter is smart and formidable, qualities to which the headstrong Lyra can relate. Screen newcomer Richards shows great self-possession as Lyra, holding her own in scenes with Kidman.

A scientist and world traveler visiting the college where Lyra is a ward, Mrs. Coulter wants the girl to become her assistant. She seems to appreciate Lyra’s spirit. Mrs. Coulter’s animal soul, an ornery golden monkey, tells a different story.

The monkey acts aggressively toward Lyra’s daemon, and you almost see its point. Voiced by young actor Freddie Highmore, Lyra’s daemon, shifting in shape from ferret to house cat, is whiny and anxious and seems altogether inappropriate for the adventurous Lyra. And in feline form, the creature looks too much like Toonces the Driving Cat.

It’s a rare misstep for the stellar technical team behind “The Golden Compass,” which merges live action and computer-generated imagery to seamless, handsome effect. Gold and pewter tones enhance the beauty of the architecture and clothing.

Life is mostly gorgeous, at least for the upper class. Things get stickier for the lower class, whose children are being kidnapped by a group called the Gobblers.

Why they want the kids remains a mystery for much of the film. “The Golden Compass” never seems to follow a single thread for very long. Instead, it introduces new characters for Lyra to meet on her journey. Few make an impact, and one who does makes the wrong kind.

Sam Elliott brings the same folksy, cowpoke manner to his airship-pilot Lee Scoresby that he has to countless previous characters. During his time on screen, “The Golden Compass” seems to have been hijacked by a TNT miniseries.

But the picture springs to life with the introduction of a giant polar-bear warrior. Given powerful voice by Ian McKellen, this creature transfixes whether doing battle or talking in close-up.