Not so Golden

Chris Weitzman's Compass charts a confusing course, but the enemy is clearly a religious one | Megan Basham

Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua

Much of the controversy that surrounds The Golden Compass, the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's adolescent screed against God (no one familiar with the pagan and Eastern mysticisms championed in the books could credibly call them atheist) is dissipating.

And it isn't the outrage of Christians that is killing it, but the resounding thud the film is producing at the box office. Though the $25.8 million Compass earned in its opening weekend boosted it to the top slot, that figure is far below what New Line Cinema executives were hoping for. (By comparison, Walden's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe earned more than $65 million two years ago during the same period.)

However, while Compass (rated PG-13 for fantasy violence) is a confusing bore despite its spectacular (and spectacularly expensive) effects, the fault lies not with the book's author but with the studio and director Chris Weitzman.