The movie The Golden Compass, based on a book by Phillip Pullman, is set in an alternate world where humans have visible souls that take the shape of animals. A little girl named Lyra finds herself on an adventure to the frozen North to find out why children have been disappearing. The answer to that question is quite unpleasant, although not nearly as unpleasant as the book's ending, which is cut entirely from the movie. But excision of nasty parts aside, I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It's gotten wishy-washy reviews, but like the book (ok, I'm a fan), the movie is a lovely wander through fantasy versions of England and Norway, populated by colorful characters and talking polar bears. Nicole Kidman turns in a perfect performance as a polished, scary ice queen; Daniel Craig is a polar adventurer with ulterior motives. The polar bears and other critters are computer-generated, but convincingly real-looking; CGI has come a long way since the days of Jar Jar Binks.

In this parallel universe, the names of people and places are familiar but somehow not quite right. Norway becomes Norroway; the coastal town of Bergen becomes the very Norwegian-sounding Trollesund; the gypsy-like people who help Lyra along the way are called gyptians. The immense polar bears have a kingdom in Svalbard, an archipelago to the north of Norway. They are known as panserbjoerne, after the Norwegian words for "armor" and "bear," because they make suits of armor out of iron from meteorites that land on their islands. This armor makes good protection when one armored bear has a run-in with a troop of crossbow-bearing Tartars.

If this inspires you to visit the Svalbard of our world, rest assured that the polar bears there do not usually attack humans, nor do they wear armor. Norway banned hunting on the bears in 1973, and now thousands roam the islands. One-on-one encounters are rare, but just in case, locals are trained to use weapons, and guidebooks advise visitors to carry a gun (or travel with a gun-carrying guide) whenever they leave a settlement.

-Helen Fields

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