Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Golden Compass, The

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 262 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Adventure | Drama | Family/Kids | Fantasy | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Philip Pullman (novel)
Chris Weitz
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 7, 2007
DVD: April 29, 2008
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / UK
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence
Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Eva Green, Sam Elliott, Simon McBurney, Clare Higgins, and Ian McKellen
Based on author Philip Pullman's bestselling and award-winning novel, The Golden Compass tells the first story in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The Golden Compass is an exciting fantasy adventure, set in an alternative world where people's souls manifest themselves as animals, talking bears fight wars, and Gyptians and witches coexist. At the center of the story is Lyra, a 12-year-old girl who starts out trying to rescue a friend who's been kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers--and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: About a Boy Down to Earth
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films. It springs from the same British world of quasi-philosophical magic, but creates more complex villains and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Represents the year's biggest gamble - and it delivers the year's biggest and most ambitious fantasy.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
A demanding blend of spectacle, drama and exposition of ideas.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
If Weitz's Golden Compass feels, at times, too crammed with exposition and big set pieces, the film nonetheless works far more successfully than the first Potter pic - the leaden "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - did translating its source material.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Weitz doesn't manage Pullman's feat of being rational and magical simultaneously. But he rapidly and intelligently opens up Pullman's world.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson
It’s pure introductory adventure, meant to immerse readers in Pullman’s richly complicated fantasy universe.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
A "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter," in other words, than "Beowulf."
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
There are significant stretches of talky tedium, more than a few “huh” moments for neophytes – especially whenever anyone starts nattering on about Dust with a capital D – and the ending plays abruptly, but there’s plenty here to hang a franchise on.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
At times you feel Weitz flipping the pages and dog-earing wildly, and that's a shame: This is a movie that needs to be lengthy and discursive, the better to duck into the back alleys of its invention. A visionary is required. This director isn't one.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
One key missing element: the world in which this story takes place never feels unique. We aren't drawn into it the way we were with Middle Earth or Hogwarts. In fact, with all the airships flying around, there are times when it feels like an extension of Stardust.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
There's something missing, beyond the iconoclastic theology, in this perfectly OK, blandly underwhelming superproduction. The movie lacks an elevating passion, a cohesive vision, a soul. It's as if The Golden Compass has misplaced its artistic compass. Somebody stole its daemon.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Ultimately satisfying and successful version of the opening volume of the celebrated "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The Golden Compass does manage the job of bringing Pullman's world to the screen. With luck, any future entries will try harder to get the job done right.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
An innocuous, passably entertaining effects extravaganza.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The Golden Compass is a snowbound mystical-whizbang kiddie ride that hovers somewhere between the loopy and the lugubrious.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
The film is dominated by computer-generated effects and they're most of its problem -- they don't give us anything to emotionally attach to or invest in.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Has many of the virtues of a faithful screen adaptation and many of the predictable flaws.
Read Full Review >Premiere Deborah Day
Ultimately fails as a film in its broad strokes and inadequate scene development.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
For all the complicated backstory, weighty themes, action set pieces and fanciful production design, the film is oddly unengaging.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Disappoints with its lack of character development and convoluted storytelling.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Looks magical, seethes with elusive profundities and makes remarkably little sense, though the murkiness makes perfect sense on a shallower level.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The Golden Compass comes close, and its originality cannot be denied, but it never quite crosses over into your heart. It stops at your eyes.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor 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 satisfying special effects.
Read Full Review >Empire Olly Richards
A crushing disappointment for fans and a scuppered opportunity for a cinematic event. That the first book has been so mishandled doesn’t bode well for the (already greenlit) more complicated ones to come.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Whatever complex or interesting ideas might have been found in the source material have been watered down, skimmed over, mashed into nonsense or simply ignored.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Not only did those so-called "demons" take the form of animals, but they actually talked!
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
A tepid, jumbled Hollywood fable whose final message seems to amount to little more than "Follow your dreams," or worse, "Stay tuned for the sequel."
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michelle Orange
In drawing and quartering much of the novel's intent, Weitz ends up with a film that feels not just unfinished but undone.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The movie simply delivers too many colorfuls for its own good, none of whom establish a true emotional identity, and thus it isn't moving, it's busy. Busy, busy, busy.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The final sad joke is this: Weitz took a wonderful story about the danger of severing a soul from its otherwise empty body and did that very thing to his source.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Five minutes before The Golden Compass started, I was wondering when it was going to start. Forty minutes into it, I was wondering exactly the same thing.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Me, I just think it blows. What does it matter if you spend millions on a movie - love the talking, battling bears! - if the effects are cheesy, the story runs off on tangents and after watching the movie fail utterly to be the next Lord of the Rings, you just want to go home.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 262 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Lorri W. gave it a10:
I love watching this movie with my 6 year old, she's just as amazed by it each time, it's wonderful to watch her reaction's.
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
From adorable to excellent to magnificent. This is a movie with many facets. The one facet to ignore is that which tries to comment on things in our world (the writer's delusions). Drivel that is, but without it, this movie shines as a beacon of great inspiration even with the moments of poor CGI. Based on the novel Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (who publicly supported the changes from his novel). Overprotective parents may find it a little dramatic for their young'uns, but it is a family film to be sure. Leave your expectations at the door when you go to see it.
Morgan F gave it a6:
A great visual experience, but it failed to convey Pullmans sense of mystery. The ending was also at the wrong time, and you could tell they were rushing in some parts.
Dominic K gave it a10:
The secenary and the whole movie is done perfectly.
nigel m gave it a3:
Too childish for adults, too complex for kids. Average CGI and wooden performances throughout. Yawn.
Courtney W gave it an8:
I really liked this movie. Visually, it was stunning. The effects were wonderful and I loved watching all the animals! The only problem I had was that, not having read the books, I didn't realize it ended kind of in the middle of the story, a la Lord of the Rings. But very good movie!
Sam J gave it a3:
In case anyone doesnt know, phillip pullman (writer of THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!) {did they really need to change the name?} hates god, and this is evident in his books, as god dies in them!! but all of this has been cut out of the movie! i think the directors need to have the guts to deal with a bit of 'controversy' if theyre gonna pull off a multi-million dollar flick! Cinema is an art form, not a media and art is by no means always politically correct!!!!! i give it a 3 because some scenes in the move were in fact done quite well. but generally i didnt like it. read the books but id advise against the movie
