That New Line Cinema did so well with the Lord of the Rings trilogy is both a blessing and a curse. After New Line’s support of Peter Jackson’s fine work, it’s a natural assumption that the company has the means and access to talent to develop other strong adaptations of youthful fantasy materials (ignoring Dungeons & Dragons, of course). It is, in fact, quite difficult to discuss another film of the same type without comparing, but doing so would threaten to tarnish some of the shine that The Golden Compass deserves.

I should note that I have read the original Philip Pullman books this film trilogy will be based on. Like Tolkien, Pullman creates a multi-layered world to journey through, but he tends to be tighter with narrative style than Tolkien. What he lacks in wordiness he makes up for in texture, and this may be where some problems will lie for an audience, as he is comfortable not sharing useful character and cultural details immediately. Over the course of this film, some information is left out to respect the audience’s time in the theatre, but it in no way affects the enjoyment of watching Lyra’s (Dakota Blue Richards) story unfold.

The tale starts out feeling like a rushed jumble of attitudinal moments as people, both children and adults, gabble at the camera. It is practically impossible to follow what they are saying and too much time is taken getting one’s bearings. Once events become clearer, previous cues become meaningful, but by then it is too late to digest what one might have found useful, as the film forcefully pushes ahead.

In a parallel universe, where humans have daemons (animal manifestations of their souls), a glamorous Mrs Coulter (Nicole Kidman) convinces the staff at Jordan College where Lyra is a boarder to allow the young lady to venture out with her. It is once you see Coulter’s monkey daemon heavily petting Lyra’s daemon that you are finally able to understand who you are following and what to watch out for.

Lyra hopes that Mrs Coulter will be taking her on a journey to the north, but soon realizes no such plans are in the air. Instead Mrs. Coulter plays dress-up with Lyra and takes her to parties with rich people but Lyra becomes curious about what is locked away in Mrs Coulter’s office. When she finds paperwork connecting the woman with the evil General Oblation Board (aka Gobblers), she becomes aware that her hero is actually involved with the disappearance of her classmates. Lyra escapes Mrs Coulter’s clutches and sets herself a goal to find the missing children.

The rest of the film is really well paced, beautiful to watch, and has a fluid combination of joyful triumphs and lurking darkness. Lyra’s search for the children, including her closest friend Roger (Ben Walker), becomes an intelligent and engaging series of small challenges. From learning how to read the ancient object the film is named after to winning an armed ice-bear’s loyalty, Lyra uses believable cunning and an innocent sense of justice to guide us through a variety of battles in pursuit of universal freedom.

Writer/director Chris Weitz handles the material with ease once he becomes comfortable with it, and newcomer Dakota Blue Richard’s spunk is entirely infectious. Kidman plays Coulter’s various depths with aptitude and gracefully leaves you wondering who will aid Lyra. There is just enough societal context to understand what is at stake, and to engender care for the outcome, without the film preaching any overwhelmingly pedantic lessons.

The Golden Compass creatively evokes how a child’s curiosity and care ropes people into her purpose and allows her to grow from a mischievous, unsupervised tot to a being capable of working and leading others to a greater good.

Rachel Gordon