Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Perhaps it didn't ignite the box office in quite the way it'd been hoped, but that's little reason to pass over the qualities of The Golden Compass now it arrives on DVD. Based on the Phillip Pullman novel His Dark Materials--itself the start of the Northern Lights trilogy, the film isn't without a few problems, but emerges as a quality adaptation.

And you certainly can't fault The Golden Compass for sheer ambition. The story, for those new to the series, is primarily that of 12-year old Lyra, who is in search of her friend who has been kidnapped. Naturally, this proves to be quite a challenging adventure, not least because it's through Pullman's vividly imagined world, crossing dimensions as Lyra travels. The film, while toning down and fiddling with some elements of the source material, stays quite close to the book, and it proves to be a good, if not Lord Of The Rings-standard, adaptation.

What helps The Golden Compass, on top of the strong effects work and scope of the production, is a solid cast, featuring the likes of Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Dakota Blue Richards. And it certainly whets the appetite for the next instalment in the series. Whether the muted box office returns put pay to that remains to be seen: for now, at least, The Golden Compass is a good, solid family movie that's easy to enjoy. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Based on Philip Pullman's acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy of books, The Golden Compass follows the epic adventure of Lyra through this dimension-crossing family movie.

Synopsis
THE GOLDEN COMPASS is an adaptation of the first book in the beloved but controversial fantasy series by Phillip Pullman. The story opens with Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) an orphan girl who lives in an alternate world that is similar to earth, but where people's souls exist outside of their bodies in animal form. The people are ruled by a shadowy and oppressive council known as the Magisterium, which is doing it's best to keep everyone from getting information about what is called 'Dust.' Lyra's Uncle Asriel (Daniel Craig) has been researching Dust, and he has seen to it that Lyra is given safe shelter at Jordan College. But when the visiting Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) arrives, she asks Lyra to accompany her on a trip to the North to meet the Panserbjorne, a race of armoured bears. Before Lyra leaves, the Headmaster gives her a golden compass, a device which only she can read, and from which she can intuit the truth. Lyra leaves with Mrs. Coulter, but when she learns that her friends have been kidnapped by 'Gobblers' she heads out to find them, and soon joins forces with the nomadic Gyptians, some witches, and an armoured bear called Iorek Byrnison (voice by Ian McKellen). Lyra finds her friends, and so discovers the evil plans the Magisterium has cooked up for the world's children. By the film's end, she has vowed to track down her Uncle Asriel, and to discover the true power of Dust.
Hollywood had a tricky time of taming this tale, as Pullman's books portray religion - the Catholic Church in particular - in a less than flattering light. The film version carefully steers clear of these themes, and instead puts its enormous budget into creating visually stunning effects. While fans of the books may find fault with this streamlined version, children are sure to revel in the many talking animals and whimsical airships.

Customer Reviews

An abomination.
Forgive the hyperboly, but I feel it justified.

I adored the Northern Lights, and 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, and 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.

Visually, stunning. Very nicely done. This is the first star. The second star is the soundtrack.

In all, the story adaptation and casting (mostly) is an insult to the Trilogy. In a way I'm pleased the film is called The Golden Compass, because that separates it (at least in name) from the magnificence that was Northern Lights.

A mess
I loved the books and it was a difficult boom to adapt. Although Lyra's world was well realised the plot was messy and confused, the ending was chopped off and 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 and 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 and remakes them.

Sadly disappointing adaptation with wooden dialogue
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 all the way with a script whose style would make Noddy sound elegant and sophisticated. Actors seem mostly to be trying hard, but with small effect.
Nicole Kidman could surely have played a bit better, and McKellen is either sadly miscast or poorly directed for his key part. Probably both. A plague on Hollywood!

No extras at all on our copy of the DVD