All Critics (191)
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Top Critics (37)
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Fresh (85)
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Rotten (111)
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DVD (9)
The Catholic League thinks it's anti-Catholic. Admirers of Philip Pullman's 1995 His Dark Materials trilogy think the film guts the backbone of the book. Me, I just think it blows.
Some of the material is wildly imaginative, some of it is just kinda silly. But it all looks good, and the kids are likable, [and] Kidman makes for an intriguing villain.
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.
With its rushed, jargon-pumped exposition, surplus of quarter-baked characters, stray narrative strands and generously dropped hints of things possibly to come, The Golden Compass is a movie that wears its franchise ambitions on its sleeve.
An aura of disappointment takes hold midway into Golden Compass and becomes undeniable by the finish.
A pretty good fantasy -- with different bits of Potter and Jules Verne and Narnia all mixed up together into something new.
The Golden Compass isn't bad, it's cast is too good and it's too well made, but something fundamental to good storytelling - heart - has been lost, leaving a final product as icy and impossible to care for as Mrs. Coulter herself.
An engaging fantasy adventure that, albeit no masterpiece, is hardly the disaster one might have imagined.
Ambitious fantasy is too intense for young kids.
Many elements will have young viewers turning to their parents in confusion.
I realize that when you make a book into a movie you cannot include every single detail, but it seems like Weitz purposely tried to take all of the magic out of the story.
... a handsome and grandly realized big-screen adventure.
This plot may sound somewhat ludicrous on paper, but Pullman has created a logical, well-thought-out world that Weitz has brilliantly translated to the big screen.
While not a masterpiece, it's definitely a film worth analyzing and experiencing...
This kid film noir touching on magic dust substance abuse, cranky clerics, worrisome wizards, goth grownup child abusers and computer-generated homicidal polar bear throat slashers, is less likely to dazzle the senses than exhaust minds of all ages.
This kid film noir touching on magic dust substance abuse, cranky clerics, worrisome wizards, goth grownup child abusers and computer-generated homicidal polar bear throat slashers, is less likely to dazzle the senses than exhaust minds of all ages.
...not a bad movie, just a slightly disappointing one. (Blu-ray Edition)
...if I hadn't liked Pullman's books so much, I probably would have liked this movie version more than I did.
One of the best Blu-ray releases I've seen this year.
Will it be enough to satisfy fans of Philip Pullman's widely read 'His Dark Materials' trilogy? Hard to say. But for the uninitiated this is an engaging adventure, even when Chris Weitz's screenplay lacks the compelling clarity of Pullman's prose.
Sam Elliott shows up as a cowboy, who would normally be a pick-me-up, but with Golden Compass I just wanted to find my direction home.
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