| The Golden Compass (New Line Platinum Series Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) | 
| Director: Chris Weitz
Actors: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Ben Walker (ix), Freddie Highmore
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $9.92
You Save: $25.07 (72%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $7.86
Avg. Customer Rating:   (246 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6913
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Icelandic (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 113 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: TRNDN38167D
UPC: 794043120435
EAN: 0794043120435
ASIN: B00005JPNY
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: December 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
In a parallel universe where witches rule the skies and armoured bears are the bravest warriors, young Lyra Belacqua journeys from her home among the scholars at Oxford to the far North to save her best friend. Based on the first book in the Carnegie Medal-winning series, His Dark Materials.
Amazon.com
A fantasy epic with more than a passing resemblance to the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia film franchises, The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate universe where each human's soul is embodied in a companion animal called a daemon. Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), an orphan who's lived most of her life among the scholars at Oxford, is intrigued when her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), announces his plans to travel north to investigate the source of some mysterious particles called Dust. Lyra has little hope of following her uncle until a mysterious woman named Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman, at her most icily beautiful) asks Lyra to travel north as her personal assistant. All is not as it seems, however, and the disappearance of Lyra's friend Roger (Ben Walker) sets her on a dizzying adventure. She does have an alethiometer, or golden compass, that can help her see the truth, and a number of companions, including her shape-shifting daemon, Pantalaimion (voiced by Freddie Highmore of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), polar-bear warrior Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), Texas aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), and witch queen Serafina Pekkala (Craig's Casino Royale co-star, Eva Green). Even before its release, The Golden Compass was the subject of controversy over its perceived anti-religious themes. While it does involve an oppressive institution called the Magisterium, it's not overtly religious, particularly to a young viewer. The movie's PG-13 rating should be taken seriously, however. Suitable for an older audience than Narnia (though younger than The Lord of the Rings), it deals with complex concepts, violence (though largely bloodless) and implied death, children and animals in peril, and an unrelentingly ominous and unsettling mood. Despite a few changes and rearrangements, the overall plot of the movie is remarkably faithful to its source material, the first installment of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It doesn't finish the book, however, and--much like The Fellowship of the Ring did--leaves the viewer hanging in anticipation of the next film, The Subtle Knife, due in 2009. So even though The Golden Compass is impressive--especially with its spot-on cast and terrific visual effects--we probably won't know its full emotional impact until the story is complete. --David Horiuchi
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| Customer Reviews: Read 241 more reviews...
One change would have made it much better. December 4, 2008
The Golden Compass was an imaginative and innovative book, inspiring novel viewpoints of personal spirituality, among other things. The plot and events are so complex that compressing it all into a single-sitting movie is ambitious. The elisions that the compression required make the action skip rather than flow. But it would be an entertaining watch, except for one flaw that can't be ignored: the unfortunate casting of the lead child actor. Nothing about her evokes the Lyra of the books. She is too pushy and aggressive. Her acting doesn't feel natural. Her appearance is also too pale and hard. It's not believable that she would inspire the loyalty and warmth and solicitude that the adult characters show in their reactions toward her.
The special effects are a consolation, especially the architecture.
 masterfully done movie of a modern classic December 3, 2008
Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy (Golden Compass/Subtle Knife/Amber Spyglass) are some of my absolute favorite books in fantasy. I was extremely psyched when I heard that a movie would be made of the first book, but never got around to seeing it until it was out on DVD.
Lyra is a young orphan girl (roughly 11 or 12) who has been raised by the scholars at Jordan College in Oxford (similar to England). Lyra's world is very like our own, except for one distinct difference: people's souls, or daemons, can be found externally in the form of various animals. Lyra accidentally overhears her uncle Asriel, some Jordan College scholars, and a representative of the Magisterium talking about Dust. Dust seems to be a hot topic in her world - Lord Asriel is trying to find a way to get to parallel worlds to learn more about Dust; the Magisterium, with the aid of the mysterious Mrs. Coulter, is trying to suppress Dust; and children are going missing in freaky experiments involving Dust. When Lyra's friends Billy and Roger are taken, she sets off on an epic adventure to save them.
Overall, the movie stays very true to the original novel, and it's beautifully done. The special effects (flying witches, talking bears) are well done and not cheesy at all. The acting is superb and, in my opinion, the movie itself is excellent.
Some things could have been confusing for viewers not familiar with Pullman's trilogy. Daemons are sort of explained in the beginning, but in addition to being part of someone's soul, they're also a physical manifest of someone's personality, so the animals of the adults are very telling about their character. That's also the reason why the children's daemons keep shifting; their "permanent" personalities are still being formed. They're also very personal entities, which is why it freaks a person out when their daemon is handled by another person (and there's an unspoken taboo about it in Lyra's world, too). I know they can't put all of that in a movie, but those little tidbits, found in the book, are extremely helpful to understanding the movie.
I did wonder about the ending - they chose to end it on a hopeful note instead of the dark, dramatic one in the book. I had heard rumors that, depending on how well "Golden Compass" did, they weren't necessarily going to make the second movie, so the cliffhanger ending from the first book probably had to get shuffled aside. It certainly makes me curious about how they're going to handle it in a sequel.
There was a lot of fuss when this movie was released because the books are, in tone, fairly anti-religious. These books (and movie) are pretty dark with some heavy philosophical questions. They aren't intended for children necessarily, even though the protagonist is a child. (Which always makes me wonder why they're shelved in the children's section?!) However, Pullman doesn't pull out the heavy anti-religious stuff until book three, and I have to wonder how the script writers are going to handle it, because you can't really tweak it without changing the entire story line. But we don't have to worry about that for right now, since movie two hasn't even been released yet.
Overall, a great movie, beautifully done with a great cast. Definitely worth checking out, even if you've never read the books. If you're thinking of watching this with young children, definitely heed the PG-13 rating.
 The Golden Compass: A Great Movie! Can't wait for the sequel! December 3, 2008
The Golden Compass is a great film that is based upon a awesome book trilogy. This film stars Nicole Kidman, Sam Elliot, Ian McKellen, Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, Philip Pullman, and Ian McShane.
While some of you may disagree with me, I liked this movie better than Narnia. There is supposed to be a sequel coming out 2009 and I can't wait to see it! Though there is some protests against a sequel (mainly the people of the Catholic Church), but I doubt that those "highly" religious people will stop the making of the sequel.
With a great story, special effects, and actors & actresses, The Golden Compass will eventually become an instant classic. I suggest anyone who wants to be entertained to buy this DVD. It's affordable and entertaining.
Either way, you always get your moneys worth in the end.
 Not for us! Not a child's movie. November 28, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
Wow- I have to be honest and say this is the Worst movie I have seen to date. I had heard about the controversy about this movie & religion...and on a 13 hour flight from Australia back to LA- I thought it would be good to watch. I mean the cast alone- had to be decent. It also would give me a chance to watch it before I showed it to my 6 year old. WOW- was I glad I watched it first! First off- do not let you 6 year old watch this movie. IT IS NOT A SMALL CHILD'S MOVIE. A) It is scary. It has deamons in it - that are vicious. Not only that the kids are being kidnapped - stolen. Ok- what child ,and parent for that fact, would not be freaked out by that. Seriously - if I let my kids watch this movie- they would be sleeping with us for the next week. Trust me- not for elementary kids.
B) It's dumb. The movie goes very fast- and apparently leaves out the majority of the information that a person who has NOT read the book needs in order to figure out what the heck is going on. If you have read the book- then you will get it. The rest of us- just still trying to figure all the weird scary stuff in the movie by reading reviews on Amazon;)
Overall- the movie was VERY DISAPPOINTING. I am not even going to mention the entire controversy with the relgion aspect of the movie. That is another can of worms. Bottom Line - Save your precious time - and go rent Narnia. You'll be happy you did. I am still wishing I could get those 2 hours of my life back that I wasted watching this movie.
skip the movie--read the book November 22, 2008
A Hollywood studio spent millions of dollars making a movie that sucks the life out of a fantastic book--what a surprise!
This movie has a fine cast, lavish production values and great special effects. All it lacks is a soul.
By all means, read the book, and the remainder of Pullman's wonderful trilogy. But don't waste your time on this pointless exercise.
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