Young Lyra Belacqua is thrown into an adventure that takes her to the Arctic, and the company of witches and talking bears in this star-studded adaptation of the first of Philip Pullman‘s acclaimed trilogy If director Peter Jackson found an ideal balance between faithfulness to the source material and an understanding of what works in cinema for The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and if the Harry Potter films stick too slavishly to the novels, then The Golden Compass finds a middle ground. But it‘s a slightly shaky one.

Philip Pullman‘s remarkable novels offer a unique blend: thrilling fantasy and philosophical considerations of free will and religion. The latter was something of a stumbling block to bringing ‘His Dark Materials‘ to the screen, but this first film, based on the book ‘Northern Lights‘, doesn‘t shy away from the issue.

Sadly the film squanders some of Pullman‘s other fascinating notions - such as the relationship between a person and their "daemon", the animal incarnation of an individual‘s soul. In the books, the main characters are a blend of human and daemon. Here, the daemons are reduced to cute sidekicks - although the filmmakers do a marvellous job of realising them on screen, particularly the children‘s daemons, which shape-shift fluidly to reflect mood and circumstance.

Visually the film is stupendous, with director Chris Weitz, production designer Dennis Gassner and the art department creating a parallel universe, with a subtly different Oxford and a radically different London. The casting of newcomer Dakota Blue Richards is perfect. Lyra Belacqua, the young heroine, is by turns surly, stubborn, brave and quick-thinking. As Lyra, Dakota Blue Richards is at the heart of the story, but around her is gathered an impressive mob of talent, including Daniel Craig as her "uncle", the iconoclastic adventurer Lord Asriel, Jim Carter and Tom Courtenay as the "Gyptians" who come to her aid, Eva Green as the ethereal witch Serafina Pekkala, and Sam Elliott as Texan "aeronaut" Lee Scoresby.

It‘s a pity that the talent voicing the daemons - Freddie Highmore, Kathy Bates, etc - barely get a look in. The only shortcomings in the cast are Nicole Kidman, as the devious, manipulative Mrs Coulter, and Ian McKellen. Sir Ian is excellent as ever, but his presence in another fantasy mega-franchise is distracting. He provides the voice of Iorek Byrnisson, the sentient polar bear who Lyra befriends. Iorek in action is one of the film‘s many treats, whether you‘re a Pullman fan or not.

After some voiceover to explain the premise of parallel universes with "dust... connecting them all", the action starts with Lyra running wild in Oxford, where she attends Jordan college, a place with a tradition of "tolerance and free enquiry". Free enquiry is being pursued by Asriel, who discovers the presence of other universes while on an Arctic expedition. However, The Magisterium (the powerful ecclesiastical ruling body) is keen to stop Asriel; Fra Pavel declares Asriel‘s discovery "heresy".

Asriel, who believes "The Magisterium‘s days are numbered," heads further north to continue his work. Lyra also travels north, as the film briskly skips through Pullman‘s plot. She is given the Golden Compass, a truth-revealing device, by the Master of Jordan (Shepherd), but must keep it secret from Mrs Coulter, another agent of The Magisterium. Lyra accompanies Coulter to London, and is primped and primed by her, as a protégé, as a daughter... until Lyra discovers Coulter is involved with the "Gobblers" - kidnappers who steal away children, including her own friends Billy Costa (Rowe) and Roger (Walker). Lyra flees Coulter and is saved from the Gobblers by Billy‘s mum Ma Costa (Higgins) and the Gyptians. With them she travels north to try and save the children who are unwitting victims of terrible experiments to separate them from their daemons. Except with the film‘s lack of emphasis and little explanation on the importance of daemons, this mission is not entirely clear. So the journey to the frozen north comes across as a straightforward adventure and rescue mission. Lyra earns her bond with Iorek, the exiled rightful king of the panserbjørne, "armoured bears", and meets the ballooning cowboy Scoresby and witch Serafina, whose nation allies with Lyra and the Gyptians to help save the stolen children.

It all builds to a fabulously realised battle in the gloom of the high Arctic, with the baddie troops - fearsome northerners with wolf daemons - facing off against one-bear-army Iorek, the graceful witches and the Gyptians. It all ends very suddenly, clocking in at less than two hours. The success of the Harry Potter films has proven that kids‘ movies can have long running times without widespread insurrection. Quite why the makers of The Golden Compass rushed so much with Pullman‘s wonderful book is a mystery. It does give the film a clip that bolsters excitement, but it could have been that much richer with more time to open up the story.

Weitz, who previously co-directed American Pie and About A Boy with his brother Paul (here executive producing) has proven himself capable of bringing so much of the book to the screen successfully. New Line, who brought us The Lord Of The Rings, have guided another great fantasy book to the screen with skill and efficiency.