Golden Compass: Re-discover your childhood

Last evening, Ramya and I watched Golden Compass with my sister, brother-in-law and their "almost 4 yr old" Tarun. The movie was a great watch especially with Tarun.

The premise of the movie centers around a 12-yr old Lyra, who lives in north-central Europe in a magical parallel universe where souls take shape as talking, continuously transforming animals. Lyra has gypsys for friends and plays around with them. She lives with her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) is a researcher who is attempting to get in touch with magical worlds in parallel universes, via a communication medium called 'Dust'. His research takes him away from home and while he is away from home, the smooth talking but evil Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman), asking Lyra to escort her to the North on an adventure. This adventure coupled with the disappearance of a gypsy friend, triggers an extraordinary adventure for Lyra filled with courage, fun and friendship.

The movie has a very good storyline filled with rich characters including the eagerly anticipated polar bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen). The scenes filled with action have been designed to make it gripping, being suitably supported by non-intrusive simulations.

The storyline/plot is along the lines of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Chronicle of Narnia with many parts inspired by these movies. However, the inspiration is productively transformed into a different experience, making it a worthy watch.

On the negative side, Daniel Craig's character is under-developed. But, since this is a trilogy, it is likely to evolve in future episodes of the movie. Also, the director seems to have used dialogues in between action to create a context for the movie's progress. This could have used slick editing.

Nevertheless, I would strongly recommend this as a good watch, especially for those of us who are still young at heart and want to take another jab at our childhood.