Audience Rating: Parental Guidance Binding: DVD EAN: 5017239195600 Format: PAL Label: Entertainment in Video Manufacturer: Entertainment in Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Entertainment in Video Region Code: 2 Release Date: 2008-04-28 Running Time: 109 Studio: Entertainment in Video Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Perhaps it didn’t ignite the box office in quite the way it’d been hoped, but that’s little reason to pass over the qualities of The Golden Compass now it arrives on DVD. Based on the Phillip Pullman novel His Dark Materials--itself the start of the Northern Lights trilogy, the film isn’t without a few problems, but emerges as a quality adaptation.
And you certainly can’t fault The Golden Compass for sheer ambition. The story, for those new to the series, is primarily that of 12-year old Lyra, who is in search of her friend who has been kidnapped. Naturally, this proves to be quite a challenging adventure, not least because it’s through Pullman’s vividly imagined world, crossing dimensions as Lyra travels. The film, while toning down and fiddling with some elements of the source material, stays quite close to the book, and it proves to be a good, if not Lord Of The Rings-standard, adaptation.
What helps The Golden Compass, on top of the strong effects work and scope of the production, is a solid cast, featuring the likes of Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Dakota Blue Richards. And it certainly whets the appetite for the next instalment in the series. Whether the muted box office returns put pay to that remains to be seen: for now, at least, The Golden Compass is a good, solid family movie that’s easy to enjoy. --Jon Foster
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Unfairly maligned Comment: I wonder just what people expect from these films sometimes.In the same way if you want deeper adult literature,you don't look to JK Rowling,no offence,I think she's great,but the books are not my thing.I liked this film.I haven't read the books.I thought they were for younger readers.
Watching the film is another matter though,it doesn't take long and works in a different way.
Having said that I thought it was a good stab at a fantasy adventure and possessed a darker quality to other similar stories such as Narnia or Stardust.The effects were decent,the animal partners didn't scream out cgi loudly for once,and the acting was far from wooden(bearing in mind some of the actors were very young).Do people really expect oscar winning levels of acting from a big budget family fantasy film.You want acting or something deeper,watch some Lars Von Trier or Michael Heneke films,you're in the wrong place here.
Some parts were a bit scary even for me,me being a year older than Daniel Craig.Maybe I'm a wuss?
Having said all that,I liked the Harry Potter films as well.I'll get my coat!
I have just become aware that there was a big kerfuffle(mainly in the USA)about anti religious elements to the story.I have to say these didn't come across very strongly in the film for me,but then again I'd probably just notice more if it was the other way around,pushing religious claptrap onto immpressionable young minds.This just makes it better. Customer Rating: Summary: The Golden Compass Comment: 'The Golden Compass' is a good family, fantasy adventure and starts off being very promising. The children actors aren't too bad to watch, Kidman is very good, the various plot elements were intriguing and the effects were of good standard. This had a great cast of both on screen actors, as well as voice over actors and the costumes and sets were pretty impressive. I enjoyed the film most of the way through until I reached the ending which left so much unresolved and set itself up for a sequel. It was SO frustrating to end a film like this that it coloured my overall feelings towards the entire film. I like trilogy type films and those that spread a story over many sequels, but I also like each separate film to be resolved enough to leave you feeling satisfied with two hours viewing and intrigued to find out what will happen next. This left me with none of that. It is a shame that what seemed to be a good film, with a good premise and well directed and acted, shot itself in the foot in such a way. This is worth a viewing if you like fantasy adventure films, but just be aware that you'll have to expect a sequel to resolve the story. Customer Rating: Summary: The problem with films like this... Comment: ...those that have been adapted from well-loved novels for viewing on the big screen, is that unless they are done very, very skillfully, they cannot fail to dissapoint. Viewers will fall into one of 2 categories - a) fans of the novel who will spend the entirety of the film nit-picking at any deviances from the written works, (that wasn't the ending in the book!), or they'll fall into catergory b), have very little knowledge of the world the fantasy is set in , and often fail to grasp the magic of what is going on, will roll-eyes at the incredulity of certain parts of the plot which are pulled off perfectly well in the novels (talking armoured bears? Souls as animals? Psh, what a load of rubbish!) and just miss the entire magic and joy the story in it's original form inspires.
I fall into the former catergory, so already had many expectations of the film (the story, the characters, Lyra's world) though it has been more than a couple years since I last read 'Northern Lights'. After being a fan of the Harry Potter books and then enduring the shambles that were called films, I didn't expect to be blown away by 'the Golden Compass' movie version, but was pleasently surprised. As the 3 star rating indicates, I didn't LOVE the film, but I didn't exactly hate it either. The acting was on the whole pretty good, the CGI brilliant (though nothing less is expected or tolerated these days), the script decent, the choice of what to include form the novels and what to pass by on the whole very good. But all this doesn't really amount to anything when you realise that this is the kind of story that belong on the pages of a book - not on a cinema screen.
If you've got a spare everning and are in need of something to watch, this wouldn't be a bad film to choose, just don't expect a film that will blow you away. If it's the story you're interested in, however, curious to know more about Philip Pullmans 'His Dark material' trilogy (which is incredible, by the way), or if you're just a fan of fantasty in general, then my advice would be to passover the film and inseatd read the books. You won't regret it! Customer Rating: Summary: Spectacular!!! Fantastic!!! Comment: I think that the film "The Golden Compass" was great. Though I really would have liked it if they were doing a secound or third film; the producers said that it cost to much money and that Dakota blue Richards(Lyra) is growing up. The film, I think, was a complete sucess! As a twelve yr old i would recomend it to any one who has an imagination, or even someone without it! My parents and older brother enjoyed it as much as I did. I have read the triodgy set and think that the did really well, pity that they won't do the others MAYBE for another 25 yrs!! It is an outstanding film!!! Customer Rating: Summary: WATCH OUT WATCH OUT THERE'S A POLAR BEAR ABOUT!! Comment: I sat and watched this with my two young girls and they both sort of enjoyed it but I will say this is a very watchable movie with the so called top actors. It was a little slow to get going but once it did it moved along at a nice pace. The special effects were very good I did enjoy the parts with the big polar bear in it, this is well worth a rent or if you see it cheap it's a nice addition to your young ones DVD colection.
![The Golden Compass [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BkTzME3xL._SL160_.jpg)
