By Martha Brockenbrough
Special to MSN Movies

Harry Potter might get all the adoration from screaming adolescents, but when it comes to awards and literary prestige, the boy wizard takes a definite back seat to an 11-year-old girl who won't go anywhere without her daemon.

Her name is Lyra Belacqua, and she's the heroine of a story that's soon to appear on a big screen near you. Called "The Golden Compass," it features some of the biggest names in Hollywood. What's more, the book it's based on was just called England's best children's book in 70 years. To win this special Carnegie Medal, "Golden Compass" beat out "The Chronicles of Narnia," "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" series, among others. And honestly, no one was surprised. It's a terrific book, and the author, Philip Pullman, is an immensely talented storyteller.

Here's the thing no one's talking about, though: Why on earth is "The Golden Compass" -- part of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy -- considered a kids' book at all? It's easily one of the most daring and subversive books I've ever read, full of literary references to Milton's "Paradise Lost," as well as metaphysical questions that have occupied philosophers for centuries.

And then there's the religious stuff.

In some ways, "The Golden Compass" is the Old Testament equivalent to the novel "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis, a book Martin Scorsese made into a hugely controversial movie in 1988. That movie portrayed Jesus as a man who gives in to some very human temptations.

Though I wouldn't want to give away any secrets of the "Golden Compass" plot right before the movie comes out, I do recall my dad's reaction to "The Last Temptation." I was a senior in high school when it came out, and had studied the First Amendment as part of a journalism class. Free speech was my mantra, and I questioned why everyone was freaking out about the movie. As my dad explained it to me, "Some things, you just don't mess with."

I thought of that as I read "The Golden Compass," a trilogy that explores the nature of the soul, mortality, and our notion of God.

It wouldn't be fair to say Pullman is "messing" with these things, but I'm not the only one who's noticed the controversial nature of the story line. Some groups call the book anti-Christian, though the Archbishop of Canterbury defends the series, saying the villainous church in the book represents religious dogma and not religion itself. The Catholic League calls the author a "militant atheist," though the movie's star, Nicole Kidman, says the religious content of the book has been "watered down."

So what does that mean?

Director Chris Weitz told the Telegraph of London, "In the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots. If that's what you want in the film, you'll be disappointed."

But that doesn't mean the movie diverges far from the book. Weitz told MSN Movies, "There was a give and take. Some things I won, some things I lost. I think we end up with a faithful rendering of the spirit of a great book." [Read the complete interview here.]

Whether the story is anti-religious is debate worth avoiding, as one might step around a bubbling pit of tar filled with unicorn corpses. The religious issues aren't the things that make "Golden Compass" more a story for grown-ups than for kids. Rather, "The Golden Compass" stands alone in the complexity of its theme. It's a lot more like Nietzsche than "Narnia."

"Narnia" is basic, celebrating the triumph of good over evil, as a sort of parallel to World War II. "Harry Potter" is similar, emphasizing the twin virtues of love and self-sacrifice. "Lord of the Rings," meanwhile, takes on the corrupting influence of power, and how few people -- or hobbits -- have the fortitude to resist it.

These themes make sense for kids who are old enough to plow through the books, which range from long to longer.

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