REEL CRITICS:

Intelligent science fiction with political overtones and knockout special effects are the hallmarks of “The Golden Compass.” It clearly borrows from the “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” series.

But it takes magical fantasy films to a new level that will captivate younger viewers and intrigue their parents at the same time.

The story opens with other dimensions and inhabited planets connected to Earth by a mysterious dust. The Magisterium is a Soviet-style government that rules the earth and seeks to prevent its citizens from knowing about these other worlds.

Free spirits seek the truth in opposition to the thought-control policies of their leaders. The amazing young actress Dakota Blue Richards is the unlikely 12-year-old heroine and true star of this subversive tale of the future.

Everyone on Earth has a soul partner called a daemon that manifests as an animal in tune with their personalities. The computer graphics that meld the living actors with these animist spirits are astounding.

Nicole Kidman is the stunning but evil accomplice of the Magisterium. Sam Elliot and a host of fine actors show up to advance the epic adventure that unfolds on screen. Magnificent talking polar bears and a host of unusual creatures and characters populate the complex story. This is a rare film that dazzled on its own merits and left me eagerly waiting for the sequel.

Realizing familial roles have reversed

“The Savages” is another of this winter’s outstanding movies. A deeply heartfelt drama, it is wrongly touted as a comedy although there are welcome moments of unexpected humor.

Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are quietly brilliant as Wendy and Jon Savage, two lost and lonely siblings with unrealized hopes. They had a tough childhood, thanks to their unpleasant father Lenny (Philip Bosco), and have had little to do with him for many years.

Wendy makes up little lies to feel better about her life, and Jon is so fearful of commitment he lets his beloved girlfriend move back to Poland when her visa expires.

Lenny’s aging live-in girlfriend passes away at the same time that he begins to display signs of dementia. Jon and Wendy must pluck him from a surreal Sun City, Ariz., and place him in a nursing home closer to them in New York.

“The Savages” deals honestly with the issues of a parent’s unraveling health and its effects on all concerned. Guilt, nostalgia for what was and what might have been, and the sad realization that the children have now become the parents — all unfold before us with compassion without being sentimental.

It’s a rare movie that can break your heart and mend it at the same time.

SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company. JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office.