The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] [2007]

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Editorial reviews

Product Description
Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Ben Walker, Daniel Craig, Clare Higgins Director:Chris Weitz

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-05-25 rating:
Slow to start, but grows into a decent entertainment.
Not having read the book, I had no preconceptions or inflated expectations. Although I was put off by what I knew of Philip Pullman's reported ideas about life (a militant atheist, apparently - which in my experience is usually just bad as a raving Christian) and a creepy interview I'd once seen with him. Reports of a vaguely steampunk setting finally persuaded me to watch it. I was unsure if it was going to work while watching the first 20 minutes - I was put off by clunky wooden acting, dodgy attempts at accents, and the general stage-school stiltedness of the child actors' voicework. But the consistently-elegant effects and the setting (the former Naval College in London + CGI FX) swept me away. The world, the lighting, and the costumes look consistently stunning on Blu-Ray. The CGI-made animal spirits are made believable, but the camera never dwells on them for more than a fraction of a second. The film finally came alive when Lyra met a drunken polar bear (superb voicework from Ian McKellen) - and from then on the film just about hangs together, even Lyra's acting seems to get better, and the film heads for an exciting and satisfying (but rather violent) ending. The Alethiometer is beautiful, but its human-scale mystery gets washed away by a meaningless golden swirl of special FX each time Lyra uses it. The film's music is forgettable fantasy gruel, but I suppose it could have been worse - I could have been in the hands of whoever made the appalingly bad song that plays over the end credits. To sum up - the main problems are the creaking plot and variable pacing, and some equally-creaky wooden acting. It's still a decent entertainment, but one that probably works best of you're aged 11-14 and have managed to avoid reading the book.

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review by: general Consumer date: 2009-05-21 rating:
Not as bad as I was led to believe!
I admit to not having read the book this was based on, and perhaps if I had then I would be just as scathing as some others have been. However, without this comparison I had to take the film at face value, and having done so with some trepidation arising from certain reviews of the movie, I must say that it is not as bad as has been made out byt some. br / br /Please do not misunderstand, I bow to those who have the compaison available and I will no doubt get around to reading the book eventually for myself, but the Golden Compass is a good family movie with parts of true inspiration and wonder. While there are some areas that clearly could use some help, overall it is a fairly watchable movie with brilliant visual effects. br / br /As for the quality itself, the Blu-ray conversion looks amazing, a true masterpiece of sight and sound and is one of those to have as a show-piece of just what HDTV has to offer over that of a simple DVD. br / br /Perhaps the fact I went into watching this film with such low expectations brought about by the poor reviews helped me appreciate this movie despite it's flaws, but this is not a bad way to spend a few hours of relaxing time with the family. Give it it's chance but at the same time do not expect a modern day masterpiece of cinematic entertainment. As has been said this is a Disney film under a different label - sweet innocent fun for the kids and an acceptable view for the adults. It could have been so much more I feel but it doesn't deserve the 1-star reviews it has been getting.

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review by: Chris J Jones date: 2009-04-17 rating:
The Golden Compass
Interested to see how the book was adapted for the big screen. Thought they did a good job. Visually exciting and fast paced too. Great film

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review by: D. date: 2009-03-16 rating:
Trivial
I have watched this movie last night. I haven't read the book: after having seen this movie I doubt I ever will. Pretentious, tedious, shallow, and more than all trivial. Exactly in the mood of these relativist times, the main background idea is that those who announce the Truth are evil, and there is no such thing as a Truth. Falling exactly in the same contradiction that grounds the relativist philosophy: this creed itself is a Truth, a giant, capital, absolutist Truth, conflicting with the other "absolutist" Truth that it wants to destroy. So, it is simply a substitution of Truth, not a demolition. But the new incompatible Truth has all the defects that it (gratuitously) attributes to the other Truth(s) it wants to destroy. The difference is that the other Truth(s) are robust, have deep roots, have been explored by millennia of research and investigation by the best brains of all times. The new truth is faint, self-contradictious, shallow, so it has just one mean of getting affirmed: spreading accuses, changing the facts, revising history emphasizing on small facts that no one denies and canceling the huge important realities, throwing its own mud against its enemy, using violence in the name of hypocrite peace. And this is exactly what this movie does. br / br /Pity. The story had some good potential and the movie is not bad in itself, besides a few boring moments. But this background is offensive, violent, arrogant and unbearable.


review by: Critic Extraordinaire date: 2009-01-24 rating:
Wonderful
As I am sure many people, I am not a part of the breed of fans that have read the book and then hastily decided to check out the film. In fact, until this film arose, I had never heard of anything-called "The Golden Compass" so it is quite an interesting film. After all a film that stars both Daniel Craig and the wonderful Nicole Kidman, regardless of whether I've read the book or not I was going to see this film. br / br /I have to be perfectly honest and tell you that although it was a good bit of fun with a very out there premise. Set in an alternate universe where, rather than a persons soul being encapsulated within their body it manifests itself as an animal form outside the body known as Daemons. The main character Lyra is fascinated by a presentation she accidentally stumbles upon by her uncle Asriel about mysterious particles known as Dust, which is apparently a way of transporting between universes. br / br /Her uncle is due to travel North in search of these particles, but holding no hope of going with him, she is asked to travel north with a very mysterious woman known only as Mrs. Coulter as her personal assistant. During that time, she comes into possession of the mysterious Golden Compass, which allows her to see all truths along with her companions also such as her Daemon and a large ferocious polar bear. br / br /Even before its release, thanks to the oppressive Magisterium in the film. The Golden Compass brought in unwanted controversy as it was believed that the Magisterium was a religious undertone relating to the Catholic Church. I suppose really that unless your child is extremely intelligent, that controversy and "message" means pretty much nothing to them. br / br /Due to it being a high budget fantasy film it required a lot of CGI and let me be honest and say, sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not. In one of the ways it did not, work was the attempting interaction between the actors and their chosen daemon. It was especially apparent when Kidman's character hit her daemon and then attempted to apologise by hugging it. The mix between reality and CGI did work, but the faults were noticeable, but it is passable due to what it did achieve. The fight scene between a King bear and Lyras polar bear companion was also another way in which the CGI worked very well. The look of the bears was spot on and quite realistic at some points the fighting was intense and very attractive. br / br /One of the best parts of the whole thing was the superbly frightening acting by Nicole Kidman. Her role as Mrs. Couter was something to be experienced and she really plays the role of a manipulative evil "ice queen" of sorts very well. Daniel Craig, although not a particularly prominent role, still managed to make the movie special and hold my interest. After all, I could not expect anything less as he is one of the reasons I decided to watch this in the first place. br / br /It was a wonderful fantasy film and about the only thing I have negative to say about it is in relation to the Daemons. From what I saw there seemed to be no explanation as to why the Daemons took the shape they did. Lyra's Daemon was that of a cat most of the time but took different shapes from time to time. Mrs. Couters Daemon was that of a golden monkey and Uncle Asriels was a tiger. br / br /Other than that little discrepancy, there is honestly nothing to complain about with this picture.

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