The Golden Compass [Blu-ray]

starring: Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig
The Golden Compass [Blu-ray]
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Product Description:
GOLDEN COMPASS (BR-DVD/2 DISC/SPECIAL EDITION/WS-2

Amazon.com:
A fantasy epic with more than a passing resemblance to the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia film franchises, The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate universe where each human's soul is embodied in a companion animal called a daemon. Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), an orphan who's lived most of her life among the scholars at Oxford, is intrigued when her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), announces his plans to travel north to investigate the source of some mysterious particles called Dust. Lyra has little hope of following her uncle until a mysterious woman named Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman, at her most icily beautiful) asks Lyra to travel north as her personal assistant. All is not as it seems, however, and the disappearance of Lyra's friend Roger (Ben Walker) sets her on a dizzying adventure. She does have an alethiometer, or golden compass, that can help her see the truth, and a number of companions, including her shape-shifting daemon, Pantalaimion (voiced by Freddie Highmore of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), polar-bear warrior Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), Texas aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), and witch queen Serafina Pekkala (Craig's Casino Royale co-star, Eva Green). Even before its release, The Golden Compass was the subject of controversy over its perceived anti-religious themes. While it does involve an oppressive institution called the Magisterium, it's not overtly religious, particularly to a young viewer. The movie's PG-13 rating should be taken seriously, however. Suitable for an older audience than Narnia (though younger than The Lord of the Rings), it deals with complex concepts, violence (though largely bloodless) and implied death, children and animals in peril, and an unrelentingly ominous and unsettling mood.

Despite a few changes and rearrangements, the overall plot of the movie is remarkably faithful to its source material, the first installment of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It doesn't finish the book, however, and--much like The Fellowship of the Ring did--leaves the viewer hanging in anticipation of the next film, The Subtle Knife, due in 2009. So even though The Golden Compass is impressive--especially with its spot-on cast and terrific visual effects--we probably won't know its full emotional impact until the story is complete.--David Horiuchi

Features:
  • In a parallel universe where witches rule the skies and armoured bears are the bravest warriors, young Lyra Belacqua journeys from her home among the scholars at Oxford to the far North to save her best friend. Based on the first book in the Carnegie Medal-winning series, His Dark Materials. Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 Age: 794043120442 UPC:&n
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Sequals Please
Amazing futuristic fantasy film based on the first of a series of three books. It was lamb-basted by the church for it's supposed "anti-religous" theme and "subversion of children's minds". Interesting how the Catholic church found the oppressive, mythical "Magesterium" likened to itself. In fact there was no allusion direct or implied against any bonified organized religous group... yet we are being denied our right to artistic license and free speach in the USA as a result.
I suggest flooding ... Read More


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - What a shame this movie didn't do better.
I say "shame," because I'm afraid the poor performance of this movie will get you to not read the series of 3 books it's based on (this film is an adaption of the first).Not reading those books would be a tremendous loss.

And I think you'd have to read "The Golden Compass" to understand why the reason the movie didn't do better.It wasn't a problem with the director or the actors or anything.Rather, the book interwove two emotions:fear and wonder, with wonder being uppermost.The ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A fun movie, but hard to understand if you haven't read the book
Having read all 3 of the books in this series, I was excited to see a film version. I did enjoy it very much, so much that I bought my own DVD and have re-watched it at least 10 times.BUT, if a person sits down to watch the movie and is not familiar with what all the controversy is about "dust", then it's a very lightweight fantasy film that just has good special effects.I would love to see the other 2 books made into movies also, but I hear this one did not do well enough to make that happen.As ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Fun Movie Too bad there won't be a sequel
The movie was fun.It's not great and it's not a must see.It's just fun.The scenery is fantastic and the acting is pretty good.If you like Sci-Fi / Fantasy then you will enjoy this.If not, then probably not.It's a shame that a sequel will not be made.Also, I do not understand the fury over billing this as an anti religous movie.Opponents tried to paint this as a picture (and book series) aimed at convincing children that religion is silly and bad and that all intelligent people should be ... Read More


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - The names were changed to protect the innocent
Come to think if it the whole story is about protecting the innocent.

Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) was raised relatively unsupervised which lead to a wild child hood of mock-wars and mischievousness. An excellent liar who saves her from many situations, she may someday find her assets are liabilities. A chance visit by her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), will change her life for ever.

Well movies can not be the book and many times for brevity speeches are cut and locations are ... Read More
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