The Golden Compass (2007)
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)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Chris Weitz
Written By: Chris Weitz, Philip Pullman
Starring: Christopher Lee, Kathy Bates, Derek Jacobi, Nicole Kidman, Ian McKellen, Ian McShane, Sam Elliott, Kristin Scott Thomas, Daniel Craig, Tom Courtenay, Freddie Highmore, Eva Green
Genres: Drama, Family/Kids, Action, Adventure
Where to Stream
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The Golden Compass belongs to 21 collections
1. #1 at the US Box Office (public: moderated by BeeDub - 10 stars)
2. CGI Animation (public: moderated by Grit - 8 stars)
3. Available on YouTube (public: moderated by utube-cinema - 4 stars)
4. Failed Franchise Attempts (public: moderated by Hailey - 4 stars)
5. All-Time Worldwide Box Office over $200,000,000 (public: moderated by QuickyAPI - 3 stars)
6. Young Adult novel adaptation (public: moderated by nauru - 3 stars)
7. Oscar: Best Visual Effects (public: moderated by BeeDub - 3 stars)
8. Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Film Adaptations (public: moderated by CCLZA - 2 stars)
9. Cinema Sins (public: moderated by Phantom Nook - 2 stars)
10. Budgets of more than $150,000,000 (public - 1 star)
11. 80th Academy Awards: Nominated (public: moderated by chemical404)
12. Alexandre Desplat (composer) (public: moderated by djross)
13. New Line Cinema (public: moderated by elhenzo)
14. Steampunk (public: moderated by BeeDub)
15. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (private: fanfic - 5 stars)
16. Top 2000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (private: fanfic - 2 stars)
17. My DVD Collection (private: LesterGroans)
18. 2007: Year in Review (private: polanski28)
19. Seen, Not Rated (private: SageSledge)
20. Luna6ix saw in theaters (private: Luna6ix)
21. Streaming List (private: xreleased)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 2 |  |
Okkervil | 15 12% |
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First of all lets start off with this films only positive; which is Dakota Blue Richards, she is obviously a talented girl with a future. As for everything else, 'The Golden Compass' is (particuarly considering its production values!) total rubbish. Bland, unimaginative, & totally lacking in any substance, depth or plot, it's couple of hours of glitzy effects and meaningless scenes and set pieces. It's a very poor film, and is made worse by the half arsed performances by the big names involved.
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| 2 |  |
cagedwisdom | 25 17% |
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This isn't good. If you haven't read the book you have no idea what's going on, no sympathy for the characters, and you really just don't care. The internal logical consistency is 100% absent. The only likeable character is Scoresby, who's like an awesome cowboy Han Solo living in an alternate universe. Other than that, this is pretty bad really.. Lyra is incredibly annoying, as she acts like a brat and isn't told off for it. You just want to reach in there and slap her around the face.
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| 2 |  |
Big Lemons | 75 22% |
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A missed opportunity. I read that the budget for this film was enormous, and indeed the production values are impressive. However, I couldn't get over a feeling that the plot was being pushed forward too quickly. The film felt rushed, the conclusion lackluster. Oh well.
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| 2 |  |
Jeb | 28 17% |
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The Golden Compass is lame. No other word can properly describe it. With such an enormous production value, you would think it would be cool. Guess what? It isn't. Rushed, flawed, crammed, shallow and unimaginative, it demonstrates that Weitz has 0% ability to make a movie. Completely separated in many areas from the book, and Lyra is just a rebellious, mean little brat. What a despicable excuse for an adaptation.
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| 2 | Skenkere | 40 21% |
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I was really underwhelmed by this. Great source material, but I guess there was just too much of it to effectively make a movie out of, because this felt more like a collection of loosely associated scenes than a movie. Characters popped in and out with little to no explanation, the world within which the movie takes place wasn't really explained or explored properly, and honestly, the acting fell pretty flat too. And I know it's a trilogy, but the ending is just plain unsatisfying.
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| 2 |  |
Bown | 51 9% |
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The bear smacked the other bear's head off. Coooooooooool.
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| 1 | ScragglyDave | 50 56% |
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Featuring Sam Elliot as an awesome cowboy!
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| 1 |  |
Astfgl | 68 51% |
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Had the ending been different (and by "different" I mean "at all resembling the book"), then I would actually have scored this film at least 10 points higher. I can forgive a lot of the changes made in the name of making this story accessible, but changing the single plot point which most fundamentally connects most people with Lyra's character is a little bit like cutting off the nose to spite the face.
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| 1 |  |
Andy | 75 82% |
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The Golden Compass is a surprisingly good (and visually stunning) film that does quite a bit of justice to the brilliant book it is based upon. I dearly hope they make FIVE more movies, including one for the SECOND HALF of this book.
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| 1 |  |
luc | 60 30% |
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Not bad those special effects but a really mess of a story. For children I think it's too complicated and for adults it's too childish. I didn't like it so much and I'm asking myself what Chinese people will think of such a movie.
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| 1 |  |
CCLZA | 45 17% |
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Like watching a piece of crap, only in a highly expensive wrapping.
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| 1 |  |
JacoIII | 25 13% |
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New Line Cinema: "Hey, Chris Weitz" Chris Weitz: "Yeah?" New Line Cinema: "Want to destroy JacoIII's favourite book series by a) making a bad film and b) blunting the ending so kids don't cry?" Chris Weitz: "Seems kinda mean." NLC: "We'll pay you." Weitz: "..." (10 weeks after release) New Line Cinema: "MONEYMONEYMONEY!!"
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| 1 | heliumflash | 20 5% |
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Pleasant to the eye, but hugely disappointing to see a good book turned into something so thoroughly empty.
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| 1 | rainybuckel | 80 50% |
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I liked this movie, still waitin for the rest of them.
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| 1 |  |
DavidBlast | 40 28% |
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This is not a movie. It's the visual companion piece to the book, highlighting exclusive scenes for your viewing pleasure, in the recognition that kids of today, even though capable of thinking for themselves, really shouldn't want to.
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| 1 |  |
JakeFace | 2 50% |
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holy shit, a bear smashes another bear's face off in this movie
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| 1 |  |
hellboy76 | 58 23% |
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Books must be a lot better because I thought this was pretty boring and poorly acted. The CGI is pretty well done.
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| 1 |  |
AnnMovie | 85 45% |
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Not as epic as I'd expected, but in a way that was refreshing. I thought it was well acted, nicely scripted and good special effects and CGI. I also loved the idea of everyone having an animal as the bearer of their soul! I did feel that there were certain plot points that could have been explained better, but I think that was due to the adaptation and time constraints (I haven't read the book, so can't compare). Overall, quite enjoyable!
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| 1 | rawzer | 73 59% |
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bales out a bit on the complexity of the books, but the ideas in the books are legion and hard to do in film. Its beautifully visualised just similar enough and just different enough from our universe. wasted too much time in the fight sequence at Bolvanger which could have been spent building up to the daemon seperation sequence and the daemonless child scenes, both of which are agonising in the book
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| 1 |  |
Wiche | 69 56% |
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Exciting and charming fantasy. Not the best film I've ever seen, but certainly amusing, however I felt they were trying to cram as much as possible in as less time as possible. The story is clever but sometimes somewhat childish.
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| 1 | wcsae | 97 96% |
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i like it more because religous people don't want you to see it.
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| 1 |  |
Tobia | 70 61% |
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A decent adaptation. Its biggest flaw is that the details of Pullman's fantasy are so elaborate and convoluted that when the characters onscreen give exposition, it's cheesy and heavy-handed. Better to read than watch.
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| 1 |  |
nandorizzi | 85 88% |
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An impressive movie, very good the photography of seeing itself. Of the genre of Narnia and Lord of Ring. In my opinion, better.
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| 1 |  |
whisperin_al | 80 61% |
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Lovely imagery and strong performance from Lyra overcome this feeling like the first part of something.
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| 1 |  |
Freder | 45 31% |
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Freder found this actually quite watchable. Gets off to a slow start, and Daniel Craig is wasted after one early scene. But the book is well visualized, and once the cowboy and the bear enter the picture it becomes quite a bit of fun. Certainly better than the unbearable HARRY POTTER movies.
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| 1 |  |
roujin | 10 1% |
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I, too, think that tossing out all the interesting aspects of your story is a good idea! Also, where's your ending?
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| 1 |  |
martryn | 51 18% |
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I'm not entirely sure where this movie went wrong. It was rushed, it didn't tie things together very well, etc. Unlike the first LotR film, this movie ended without a real resolution, changing the book unnecessarily to confuse the audience. The book wasn't fantastic or anything, but the movie trailers looked pretty badass. So why was I so embarrassed watching this film?
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| 1 |  |
Grit | 25 21% |
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As far as lavish films based on substancial and well established works go this ranks very lowly. Mostly it destroys any comprehensible plot trailing a story along a series of disjointed scenes with very little explanation. It's a sad thing when a movie with such a large budget cannot even get the story across, unless combined with the book. Even the game, which I've been unfortunate enough to play previously, explains some scenes better. Also the girl is very annoying and Sam Elliott kicks ass.
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| 1 |  |
MJVmovieMan | 38 9% |
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I love fantasy and the broad scope of created worlds, but "The Golden Compass" is a turgid mess for kids and adults alike. This spiritless movie plods along with satisfactory special effects, but the storyline, as presented in the film (having not read the book), is too ridiculous and hard to follow. Aside from the confusion, it's mostly a bore anyway. And even with Kidman and Craig along for some credibility, they fail to turn in any worthy acting.
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| 1 |  |
Suture Self | 3 25% |
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The Golden Compass has charm but that charm is quickly devoured by a breakneck mishmash of a plot that lacked a coherent message and left at least three hundred questions unresolved. Dust? DUST? WHAT?
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| 1 |  |
Difontaine | 30 5% |
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It's flatter than a pancake under a steamroller. The book is a near-world fantasy and a set-up for the rest of the trilogy. This film is the book with the magic and excitement stripped out and then directed by a sat-nav. Go here, go there, left at the talking CGI bears, yadda yah. Disapointing
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| 1 |  |
3Names | 85 58% |
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This is the substansive fantasy script 'Harry Potter' can only hope to be... With a child actress that can actually carry a film... Fantastic Art Design, too...
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| 1 |  |
buggz79 | 79 75% |
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I liked the story....and polar bears rule!
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| 1 | Herbert Eder (ItsVery.net) | 67 51% |
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Too bad The Golden Compass can't decide if it wants to be kiddie-friendly or for serious fantasy aficionados. That's why it fails to fully score in either category. [Full Review]
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| 1 |  |
Barraoc | 60 38% |
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Lots missing from this lackluster adaptation of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights novel, including much of the finer details and, unfortunately, the ending.
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| Average Percentile 30.18% from 3966 Ratings |  |