the golden compass

Finally the first trailer from the Golden Compass has arrived. Since I'm a Sci-Fi & Fantasy nerd I care for things like these. I really enjoyed Philip Pullmans trilogy of books called His Dark Materials. They added something new and interesting to the Fantasy genre. Mixed it with a typical Sci-Fi theme like a multiverse of parallel worlds that you can travel between. One of those worlds is ours. The book also brings up a very dark view of organized religion. In a parallel world to ours the Church is very powerful. It's a world where magic, witches, talking animals and dæmons exist. In this world the girl Lyra Belacqua grows up at Jordan College, Oxford not knowing who her parents are. The world outside Jordan College is like a steampunk version of the Victorian era England. In this world the Church and the scientists have discovered the existence of something they call Dust. The Church believes that Dust is a manifestation of Original Sin and that there's a relation between Dust, a persons dæmon and sin. Because of that they start a series of horrific experiments on childrens dæmons. At the same time Lord Asriel, a highly respected member of the Brytish aristocracy and an explorer and a experimental theologist, has done his own research about Dust. He attempts to overthrow the Authority's divine monarchy and replace it with a Republic of Heaven. Quite a heavy theme for a book targeted at "young adults" and it made the Christian Right shit their pants. First Harry Potter and then this!

So, what about the trailer? It looks pretty nice. I like the look of the panserbjørn Iorek Byrnison, at least in the close ups. The running scene at the end was a bit to much Coke commercial. But what the hell. Daniel Craig looks great as Lord Asriel. The same goes for Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter, Sam Elliott as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby and Eva Green as the witch Serafina Pekkala. But I'm a bit doubtful when it comes to Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua. I really hope she can act otherwise the movie will be hard to watch. The look of the Gyptians also worries me a bit. I hope they won't look and sound like a bad stage version of Oliver Twist.

Here you'll find better versions of the trailer - The Golden Compass.