Lyra Belacqua is an orphan who lives happily in Jordan College, Oxford, playing with local boys and terrorising the professors. However, when Lyra overhears scholars discussing a plot against her uncle, Lord Asriel, centering around a mysterious substance called Dust, her curiosity is roused. Soon Lyra is in over her head as she uncovers a frightening plot and a whole new world of possibilities.

We would have thought that by now, the so-called guardians of public morality would have learnt their lesson and leave blockbuster fantasies alone. But no - they feel the need to take on another crusade against this film to prevent the world from turning into heathens. If anything, the protests by religious groups would only provide the curiosity factor to boost its box-office takings.

Based on David Pullman's book, 'His Dark Materials', this movie was seen as anti-Christianity by many organisations and even Nicole Kidman had come out to refute this claim. However, its opening in the US had been lacklustre despite the publicity hype but the movie did much better elsewhere in the world, especially here in Malaysia.

Anyway, "The Golden Compass" is partly an attack on 'authorities' who try to impose their will on others, just like the organisations who tried to have this movie banned or boycotted. In the movie, they are called the Magisterium, a bunch of old men who want to control the minds of the people, especially children.

Mainly, however, it is the story of Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), an orphan whose only living relative is the respected Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig). She is picked by the beautiful Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) to accompany her on a trip to the North where she hopes to meet the Ice Bears. However, before she can depart, her best friend, Roger (Ben Walker), disappears, captured by a squad of goons known as The Gobblers. Lyra is given an alethiometer (which looks like a golden compass) by the Master of Jordan College. This is the device that will reveal the truth of things to her, but she must not let Mrs Coulter know that she has it.

The trip with Mrs Coulter is not what Lyra had thought it would be, and she escapes her clutches, setting out on a quest to find and rescue Roger. For this endeavour, she needs some extraordinary companions, including the armoured Ice Bear Iorek Byrnison (voice of Ian McKellen), an aeronaut named Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), the Gyptian king John Faa (Jim Carter), and the witch queen Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green). Their goal sets them at odds against the forces of the Magisterium.

The main lures of this fantasy flick are the concepts of Daemons and Dust in a universe parallel to Earth. Characters here do not have souls but are accompanied by animal embodiments of their soul. 'Dust' is the stuff that makes travel between universes possible. It's the thing most feared by the Magisterium. These new concepts take a bit of getting used to and the first half of the film expounds on them. The second half gives us duels between the Ice Bears, and rousing mid-air battles that recall the clashes of the "Chronicles Of Narnia". Why, even Kidman looks like the Snow Queen of Narnia, only more ravishing and seductive.

The other star who stands out as much as Kidman is young Dakota Blue Richards who seems to have to carry the movie on her own much of the time. She has the requisite screen chemistry and pluckiness but viewers need to warm up to her a bit more. Other big names in the cast, like Craig and Eva Green, have little screen time in this first instalment. Unlike "Lord Of The Rings" and the Harry Potter films, there are no spectacular creatures like dragons and trolls to wow the audience, only talking grizzlies and cute daemon creatures. However, director Chris Weitz makes up for it with energetic plot development and other distractions.

Don't expect to walk away from "Golden Compass" feeling 'totally satisfied'. This is only the first of its trilogy, so it ends in a cliffhanger. Keeps you in anticipation for the sequel...

You walk into a shop and pick up a lovely little book called "The Northern Lights" by Philip Pullman and more than a decade later, it gets blown up to gigantic proportions on the big screen. That's just the magic of Hollywood.

The delicious little story of "The Northern Lights" a.k.a "The Golden Compass" centres on young Lyra Belacqua. She is an orphan who lives happily in Jordan College, playing with local boys and terrorising professors. However, when Lyra overhears a plot against her uncle, Lord Asriel, on account of a mysterious substance called Dust, her curiosity is roused. Soon Lyra is in over her head, uncovering a frightening plot and a whole new world of possibilities...

But that's just a miniscule bit of the story, a speck of dust (ha!) compared to the magnitude of the actual thing. The truth is, we are now brought in a world very different from the one we know. Here the North is ruled by Ice Bears, the skies are ruled by Witches, the seas are ruled by Gyptians (a cross between pirates and gypsies) and EVERYTHING is ruled by the Magisterium. In this world, the soul is not trapped in bodies but roams by their sides as magical creatures called daemons. Perhaps this is where the hullabaloo of a Christianity controversy came about with the book. However this is kept to a bare minimum and only those who take offence should only comprise of "Harry Potter" and "Narnia" fans.

Having made so many comparisons to "Narnia", I must say that this is not a kiddie movie. Despite having a much younger main character, the movie tackles real life issues like oppression, tyranny and freewill. It defies common belief and typical fantasy movies by creating a world where science, theology and magic are closely intertwined. In short, one might say that "The Golden Compass" does what J.K. Rowling lacks the brains to, what C.S. Lewis lacks the balls to and what Dave McKean (director of "MirrorMask") lacked the budget to.

It is a must-watch for the distinct and colourful characters featured in the film, namely Pan, Lyra's daemon and my personal favourite. Voiced by Freddie Highmore of "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory", he brings colour into the shots with an adorable childlike humour. Another one of my favourites (so that people don't think this is just filled with sissy animals) is the armoured polar bear, Iorek Byrnison. Who would expect that 69-year-old Ian McKellen could play such a strong character? Another very colourful character is Lee Scoresby, a cowboy aeronaut. Here Sam Elliott does what he does best - being a cowboy, but now he does so in a peculiar hot air balloon!

When I say characters, I don't mean just pretty things to merely exist like in "Narnia" but actual well-developed personalities.

The movie reunites Daniel Craig and Eva Green but thankfully, they are not shagging each other. Although they hardly get any screen time but in the few brief moments that they do, they do it splendidly.

Truthfully, when watching the trailers the first thought that crossed my mind was - is Nicole Kidman really going to be playing an evil officer? I just knew that Kidman couldn't be bad and I was right! But the director has skillfully taken care of that. All the dirty work is done by Nicole Kidman's daemon because evil is projected by in a vile golden monkey. Nicole Kidman's soul is something viewers are guaranteed to absolutely loathe and abhor. The one problem I have with her here is that in most of her scenes her eyes are always red. Perhaps those piercing blue contacts are more irritating than expected, but really, that's no excuse.

All in all, I have no complaints - excellent storyline, acting, effects and cinematography. But do expect this to only be an exploratory movie, paving the way for its sequels "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass". It has built up a lot of steam and potential for Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" as a movie franchise. Despite the promotional angle, please don't compare it to "The Lord Of The Rings" because it's not in the same category. However, be forewarned that it is a trilogy so don't go in there expecting a "Narnia" or a "Harry Potter" because the story will dangle. I learnt that one the hard way.