The Golden Compass
January 2007
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Synopsis
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4.1
200 total
5 96
4 57
3 28
2 7
1 12
Peter Travers
The Catholic League thinks it's anti-Catholic. Admirers of Philip Pullman's 1995 His Dark Materials trilogy think the film guts the backbone of the book. Me, I just think it blows.
Richard Roeper
Some of the material is wildly imaginative, some of it is just kinda silly. But it all looks good, and the kids are likable, [and] Kidman makes for an intriguing villain.
Peter Rainer
The Golden Compass is a blatant attempt to duplicate the success of the Harry Potter franchise. The only thing missing is richly imagined characters, a comprehensible story line, good acting, and...
Geoff Pevere
With its rushed, jargon-pumped exposition, surplus of quarter-baked characters, stray narrative strands and generously dropped hints of things possibly to come, The Golden Compass is a movie that...
Moira MacDonald
Weitz's movie remains ultimately remote. It ends mid-adventure, so blatantly setting the stage for a sequel that the whole thing suddenly feels like a preamble.
Mick LaSalle
An aura of disappointment takes hold midway into Golden Compass and becomes undeniable by the finish.
Critic reviews
Peter Travers
The Catholic League thinks it's anti-Catholic. Admirers of Philip Pullman's 1995 His Dark Materials trilogy think the film guts the backbone of the book. Me, I just think it blows.
Richard Roeper
Some of the material is wildly imaginative, some of it is just kinda silly. But it all looks good, and the kids are likable, [and] Kidman makes for an intriguing villain.
Peter Rainer
The Golden Compass is a blatant attempt to duplicate the success of the Harry Potter franchise. The only thing missing is richly imagined characters, a comprehensible story line, good acting, and...
Geoff Pevere
With its rushed, jargon-pumped exposition, surplus of quarter-baked characters, stray narrative strands and generously dropped hints of things possibly to come, The Golden Compass is a movie that...
Moira MacDonald
Weitz's movie remains ultimately remote. It ends mid-adventure, so blatantly setting the stage for a sequel that the whole thing suddenly feels like a preamble.
Mick LaSalle
An aura of disappointment takes hold midway into Golden Compass and becomes undeniable by the finish.
Stephen Whitty
A pretty good fantasy -- with different bits of Potter and Jules Verne and Narnia all mixed up together into something new.
User reviews

Man, I wanted to like this one I was all about "James Bond Goes to Narnia," like I told my wife many times when it was released (in jest of course; while Daniel Craig does get into a fight in this movie, he is most certainly not playing James Bond here and in fact is a bit of a minor if important character). I hadn't read the book and was glad for that; I knew of some of the controversies surrounding the stories and was excited to see what they did with the film version. Visually it is stunning; like Jules Verne brought to life. Story and pacing-wise it just stinks the big one. Tension in the film is pretty much non-existent and it's hard to even like the main character much. I hate to say that it seems like they had a lot of potential going for this movie but wanted to do a quick cash-in on the Narnia/Harry Potter craze, but it seems like they had a lot of potential going for this movie but wanted to do a quick cash-in on the Narnia/Harry Potter craze. Disappointing.

♥'d it! But... Fantastic movie... but at the end they leave you wanting(and EXPECTING!) the rest of the story and they never followed through! I heard the studio ran out of $$$ for the project. Unfortunate- but get the book and finish it for yourself! This story is worth it and we deserve an ending!!!
Love it I really love this movie u hope there will be another one
D This movie is awesome. Can't wait to see when their going to come out with another.
Cast and credits
Additional information
Rotten tomatoes® score
Audio language
English (Stereo)
Rental period
Start within 30 days, finish within 48 hours.
Run time
113 minutes
Rating
PG-13
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