The Golden Compass

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels already has a place beside the work of JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia); it's only fitting, then, that it has also made the leap from page to screen. The first instalment introduces us to 12-year-old heroine Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) who lives in a magical, neo-Victorian Oxford somewhere in a parallel universe. It's a realm dominated by the all-powerful Magisterium (led by Derek Jacobi) and populated by daemon familiars, flying witches and evil child kidnappers. Darker and more complex than the Harry Potter series, this ambitious family movie occasionally feels rather muddled as it struggles with the novels' intricate, philosophical bent. Director Chris Weitz (About a Boy) rallies with a sprawling battle in the Arctic, an imposing CGI polar bear (voiced by Ian McKellen) and an icy turn from Nicole Kidman as evil Magisterium agent Mrs Coulter. As the beginning of a planned trilogy, it certainly whets the appetite for more.