In theaters

THE GOLDEN COMPASS, written and directed by Chris Weitz, based on the novels by Philip Pullman, 114 minutes, rated PG-13.

Much like Joe Wright’s forthcoming film “Atonement,” Chris Weitz’s “The Golden Compass” scores best in that it’s undeniably a great-looking movie.

A very good Nicole Kidman, for instance, is a golden vision of cinematic perfection, slinking with smiling menace through an imperfect movie stymied by an unnecessarily dense script and a chafing, baited ending that offers more disappointment than satisfaction.

Weitz based his script on the first book in Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, and he uses his $180 million budget to create a world that hovers somewhere between the sterility of science fiction and the richness of fantasy. As a result, the movie can be beautiful and harrowing, but too often it also is canned and derivative.

In many ways, “Compass” will remind viewers of 2005’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” a superior film that grabbed audiences from the start with the dramatic pull offered by its well-rounded characters and story, and the seamless incorporation of its special effects, which were among the year’s best.

Though “Compass” follows “Narnia” in that it has created something of a stir within the restless Catholic League, which has since condemned the movie for what it views as atheist undertones, it otherwise is nowhere near on par with “Narnia.”

What’s missing isn’t just a sense of magic to the production and a clear idea of all the evil working to undo young Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), who is in possession of the golden compass of the title, an alethiometer used to mine the truth in all things asked of it. What’s critically missing here is soul, gathering momentum and a lasting element of danger, all of which would have helped “Compass” to match the operatic tone of “Narnia.”

About the compass of the title: Lyra receives it from her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig, wasted), who instructs her to keep it hidden from Kidman’s Mrs. Coulter, a glam tour-de-force who represents the Magisterium (or the Catholic Church – you decide), and who is all about crushing free will in children. So, yes, she’s about as warm and snuggly as an ice pick. Or that other Coulter – Ann.

When Mrs. Coulter demands that Lyra accompany her on a journey away from Jordan College, where Lyra attends school, Lyra is seduced into believing that she’ll be going to the north, where Asriel has departed for his own adventures and a friend of hers has gone missing.

Along with her “daemon” Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore), a furry little beast that represents an extension of Lyra’s soul (everybody in the movie has one of these creatures), she climbs into Coulter’s sleek-looking zeppelin and off they go – straight into trouble, the heart of which is revealed when Lyra comes to learn all that Coulter is about.

Helping Lyra fight the Magisterium is the warrior polar bear Iorek Byrnison (Ian McKellen), whose battle with the ferocious polar bear Ragnar (Ian McShane) allows the movie a needed slice of action, as well as the Gyptians, scores of witches, and even Sam Elliott as a gun-toting cowboy, all of whom factor into the final battle scene.

In less than two hours, “The Golden Compass” packs in all of this and more – too much more, really – building questions along the way that are left unanswered in one of the year’s most rushed, unsatisfying endings, one that departs radically from the book. While those questions likely will be answered in future movies, the grumbling among the audience members at my packed screening suggested that at least a few of them should have been answered right there and then. And they were right.

Grade: C+

On DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, directed by David Yates, written by Michael Goldenberg, based on J.K. Rowling’s novel, 138 minutes, rated PG-13.

Mirroring “The Golden Compass,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” is best served by reading the book before seeing the movie, a shift from previous “Potter” films, which could stand alone. Still, knowledge of the book will help one navigate the film’s jumpy storyline, even if it does shed too much light on all that was left out in the film’s uneasy transition from page to screen.

With the exception of those scenes that foreshadow Lord Voldemort’s inevitable appearance toward the end, which is the movie at its finest, the film focuses on the fallout that occurs when Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) casts a spell that saves him and his bullying cousin Dudley (Harry Melling) from a soul-sucking attack by the Dementors.

Although each would have died had Harry not intervened, Harry nevertheless is expelled from Hogwarts for using magic without approval. Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is swift to his defense, which keeps Harry at school, though what ensues for Harry is nevertheless unpleasant for a number of reasons, all best left for the viewer.

Fine additions to the cast include Imelda Staunton’s Dolores Umbridge, the school’s new administrator who plans to crush the idea that Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is lurking about and who decides the best way to get the kids back on track is by ruling them with an iron fist. Though the woman is sheathed in hot pink, in this movie, pink might as well be the new black. She’s such a mincing, closed-minded powerhouse, repression becomes the heart of this Hogwarts tale, as does the rising up against it.

With so much unresolved exposition, “Phoenix” becomes that unusual film that feels at once too complex and, at least when it comes to offering a big, satisfying payoff, too narratively slight: There is no denying that this film is the weakest in the fold.

Grade: C+