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Year One
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
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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
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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
