'The Golden Compass'

2 1/2 stars = Average
Ratings explained

Let's ask the obvious: Who is the audience for a movie about a 12-year-old girl if it's going to get a PG-13 rating?

The answer, in part: Those who love British author Philip Pullman's award-winning "His Dark Materials" trilogy. This movie, based on the first novel, "Northern Lights," drew protests from the religious right because of references to "daemons" and witches, and it flopped at the U.S. box office, grossing $70 million here with a $180 million budget.

It also won an Oscar for its groundbreaking visual effects, and between these and the magnetic performance of Dakota Blue Richards (looking as if she'd grow up to be Natalie Portman) as Lyra Belacqua, the movie is modestly entertaining.

On the debit side are a convoluted plot and an unresolved ending that sets the audience up for the next installment ("The Subtle Knife," due next year) but leaves viewers feeling cheated.

The movie is set in a parallel universe where people's souls walk beside them as animals called "daemons," which seem to have nothing to do with the usual meaning of "demon." The golden compass of the title, also known as an alethiometer, is entrusted to Lyra to discern the truth as she sets out to find two kidnapped friends.

Nicole Kidman is amusingly evil as the glamorous Mrs. Coulter, trailed by her daemon, a golden monkey, and others include Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Sam Elliott, Tom Courtenay, and the voices of Ian McKellen and Ian McShane (as "ice bears").

In the movie's most spectacular computer-generated imagery sequence, two armored bears duke it out to the death, surrounded by 100 other bears.

The extras -- all 2 hours, 49 minutes -- shed a great deal of light on the movie (which is about an hour shorter than the extras). Long interviews with Philip Pullman and director/screenwriter Chris Weitz ("American Pie," "About a Boy") may make the movie seem better than it actually is. Other extras explore the movie's CGI, costumes, music, set decoration and casting.

-- Jim Heinrich, Post-Gazette staff writer

'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'

4 stars = Outstanding
Ratings explained

One of the best movies of 2007 is also the true story of a fashion magazine editor who, after a massive stroke, communicates to his nurses and the world with the only muscle he could still control -- his left eyelid. What could easily have been an exercise in mawkish nihilism and self-pity is one of the most inspiring meditations on the human spirit in years.

When 43-year-old French Elle editor and committed hedonist Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) goes from international bon vivant to poster boy for what the doctors call "shut-in syndrome," it's clear that though paralyzed, he remains as lucid and ironical as ever. With the help of a speech therapist (Marie-Josee Croze) and a supernaturally patient stenographer (Anne Consigny), Bauby dictates an autobiography that powerfully expresses his newfound appreciation of life.

Shot mostly from Bauby's point of view, the film engages in poetic reveries about his life without ever losing focus on his final struggle. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is surprisingly funny and never shrinks from making moral judgments about Bauby's life. It never feels claustrophobic despite the viewers' visceral fear of paralysis.

Director Julian Schnabel ("Basquiat") is probably the only filmmaker alive who could have told this story in a way that does justice to Bauby's life. Filmed in French with English subtitles, you don't even notice the language differences. The DVD includes a short but informative feature about the making of the film, along with a superfluous Charlie Rose interview with the director. Skip these extras and allow this beautiful film to speak on its own terms.

-- Tony Norman, Post-Gazette staff writer

'27 Dresses'

Katherine Heigl goes the sweet romantic comedy route (minus the raunch of "Knocked Up") playing a woman who's always the bridesmaid. Her co-dependent, people-pleasing character has 27 hideous bridesmaid dresses to prove it.

If you believe that any of this could be possible, you may enjoy this implausible excuse for a date movie.

Although most of the world seems to disagree with me, I think Heigl's comedic skills are modest, and any number of other actresses (including Judy Greer, playing her best friend, Casey) would have been funnier.

The film's biggest acting asset is James Marsten as Kevin Doyle, the charmingly obnoxious reporter who covers weddings for a New York newspaper and is pursuing the hostile Heigl. But Heigl is in love with her boss (Ed Burns), who falls in love with her phony sister (Malin Akerman).

The movie has one great scene -- Heigl and Marsten singing Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" and botching the lyrics -- and an unforgettable final image -- a destination wedding with a montage of bridemaid dresses.

The extras are "The Wedding Party" (about the making of the movie), "You'll Never Wear That Again" (focusing on the 27 dresses), "Jane's World" (about transforming Newport, R.I., into New York City) and "The Running of the Brides" (about bridal sales at Filene's Basement).

Unfortunately, the best thing about the DVD is the previews for the movies "Juno" and "The Savages."

-- Jim Heinrich

Also new this week

"Nanking"

Nominated for a 2008 Academy Award, this documentary uses the testimony of survivors to tell the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, at the onset of World War II. With Jurgen Prochnow, Mariel Hemingway and Graham Sibley.

"How She Move"

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

A student revives her love for step dancing when a family tragedy forces her to drop out of private school to attend the public school that serves her crime-infested neighborhood. With Tre Armstrong, Rutina Wesley, Raya Green and Keyshia Cole.

"The Fall of the Roman Empire (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)"

Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness and James Mason star in the reissue of the 1964 epic.