Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• 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

Probably the worst film I have ever seen
It's simply a collection of key scenes which do not link together. It's always going to be difficult to take a book of a few hundred pages and turn it into a two hour film, but really this is a masterclass in how not to do it.

Not without its charm .... but doesnt deliver
This film, at times, has a certain charm, but the movie feels like too much has been crampt into it and everything seems rushed. There is no real background story to this film and therefor the story seems like nonsense. It doesnt really describe why everyone is walking around with a talking animal as a companion, which leaves you confused and you are left thinking "This is all a bit stupid". Ive never read the book but on film the story doesnt work.

However, the acting is decent and the polar bear's are entertaining. But, this film has left me with little interest in any sequels. Overall, a below average book-to-film adaptation. Buy iy for your kids, but dont bother for yourself.

Not a perfect adaptation of Northern Lights, but still a very good film
First I must point out that before I saw this film I had already read, and hugely enjoyed, the original book, so I approached this film with a mixture of high hopes as well as concern about how Hollywood would treat Philip Pullman's work. To my relief, I can report that the transition to the big screen was, give or take a few compromises, a success.

The 'alternative Earth' world that Philip Pullman has superbly conceptualised is visually re-created in this film very convincingly. The weirdly futuristic yet slightly Victorian technology is conveyed very well via some impressive CG-enhanced cinematography and the daemons that accompany every human are also very realistic and show that no expense has been spared in reproducing this strange world. The cast is also top notch. Daniel Craig makes a great Lord Asriel, mixing authority and intelligence with a subtle charm. Nicole Kidman is also wonderful playing the sinister Mrs Coulter, flicking effortlessly between affability and damn right scariness. The exiled bear prince Iorek Byrnison is also very well portrayed, the CG rendering is top notch and, being voiced over by Ian McKellen, gives the character the right amount of gravitas.

Where the film works well is that it makes Pullman's story very accessible to anyone who hasn't read the book. In his book Pullman crams in an incredible amount of ideas, some of which are quite mysterious and don't get fully explained until later on in the book. Therefore the film makers chose to simplify some of these intricacies to make them more 'movie friendly'. So, for instance, the whole concept of what a daemon is gets explained very early on in the film so the viewer doesn't sit wondering why everyone walks around with their own talking animal. This is in contrast to the book, where deamons just exist, no simple explanation is given as to why people have these animals, and it's only through reading the whole book that you begin to understand the mysteries of these enigmatic creatures.

I know many Pullman fans have criticised the film's simplification of many of Pullman's ideas as dumbing down, but I think this is a little unfair. Without doubt some of the more involved subplots are only touched on in this film, giving the impression that some of it was a little rushed as the film makers tried to cram as much of the book as they could into a 2 hour film. For instance, the Bear King's infatuation with being human, as well as his usurping of Iorek, has far more significance and depth in the book than it does in this film. Also, in the film, the role of the Witches is quite understated and they're portrayed almost like 'guns for hire' to help Lyra and the Gyptians when needed. In the book, however, they have a very profound involvement in the story and very much hold the balance of power in the unfolding events.

But the biggest compromise is without doubt the point at which the film ends. I will not give anything away, other than to say the film ends at about three quarters of the way through the book. So the film gets denied the book's original climactic ending, and kind of just fizzles out. It really isn't a proper ending and I feel this definitely could have been handled better.

But generally the compromises do not detract from the fact that this film is very enjoyable and a great introduction to the fascinating world that Phillip Pullman has created. Admittedly this adaptation isn't perfect and many of the book's subtleties and intricacies have been lost. But as a fan of the book I'm just pleased such a wonderful story has been given the Hollywood treatment and allowed a whole new audience to discover its delights.