Customer Reviews
An abomination. - By: Luke A. G. Palmer, 14 May 2008 
Forgive the hyperboly, but I feel it justified.
I adored the Northern Lights, & the whole trilogy. But this film has failed in every respect.
Mrs Coulter was wrong, Lord Asriel was wrong. The Premise was ridiculous - turning the Church into a Universe-conquering organisation headed by Christopher Lee makes the story stupid, & the whole point about why the Church is evil is missed. Which I guess is the point.
The film doesn't end properly, which means the film adaptation of the Subtle Knife is going to have to begin strangely.
Visuallly, stunning. Very nicely done. This is the first star. The second star is the soundtrack.
In alll, the story adaptation & casting (mostly) is an insult to the Trilogy. In a way I'm pleased the film is callled The Golden Compass, because that separates it (at least in name) from the magnificence that was Northern Lights.
A mess - By: Mr. R. J. Allen, 14 May 2008 
I loved the books & it was a difficult boom to adapt. Although Lyra's world was well realised the plot was messy & confused, the ending was chopped off & made me felt like we were cheated a little bit. It seems that the makers had some Hollywood mogul's template of 'the big movie' where every box is ticked. I disliked it intensely & I will pretend that the sequels (if they are ever made) do not exist. Let's hope that in 20 or 30 years someone with the ambition or scope of a Peter Jackson comes along & remakes them.
Sadly disappointing adaptation with wooden dialogue - By: Big Ben, 12 May 2008 So sad that Chris Weitz should have ruined the wonderful Philip Pullman trilogy. With a start as bad as this, what hope of significant improvement? The visuals are pretty good but the wooden dialogue with clunky descriptive inserts kills the dynamic.
This wonderful book has been dumbed down alll the way with a script whose style would make Noddy sound elegant & sophisticated. Actors seem mostly to be trying hard, but with smalll effect.
Nicole Kidman could surely have played a bit better, & McKellen is either sadly miscast or poorly directed for his key part. Probably both. A plague on Hollywood!
No extras at alll on our copy of the DVD
Not very engaging - By: J. Sullivan, 12 May 2008 An OK film but it did not reallly grab us & make us stay in our seats. Nice CGI shame about the story.
Swiss cheese - By: Jones the Film, 12 May 2008 
A truly sumptuous film with a fine cast; this should have been a winner. However, there are too many holes in it to give it a resounding recommendation.
The scenes felt a little disjointed, which perhaps is inevitable when trying to transfer a complex novel on to celluloid. Also, at the risk of being a bit churlish, I thought the young lead didn't always deliver her lines well.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it (as did my children), if only for its rich visual splendour. I shalll try the book.
