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The Golden Compass (2007)

Director: Chris Weitz

Time Out rating

Average user rating

152 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Bland, bloodless and bereft of magic, New Line’s corporate sanitisation of Philip Pullman’s exciting, provocative fantasy novel, ‘The Northern Lights’, strips the book of its humanity and soul.

Just as the church-like Magisterium and the glacially glamorous Mrs Coulter (Nicole Kidman) are rumoured to be severing pre-pubescent children from their animal daemons (an external ‘familiar’ representing their inner soul), so this clinical dissection of Pullman’s vividly imagined parallel world cuts away the warm flesh and leaves only the bare bones.

The skeleton of the plot remains, albeit in a compacted, confusing form.

While zeppelins float above an alternate Oxford’s dreaming spires, wilful 12-year-old orphan Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) swears to rescue her kitchen-boy friend Roger from his child-cutter abductors. Lyra’s epic quest takes her to the frozen wastes of the Arctic Circle. Here, with the help of Lord Faa’s good-hearted Gyptians, ferocious ice bear Iorek Byrnison (badly voiced by a miscast Ian McKellen), cowboy aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), witch queen Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green) and a precious truth-telling instrument called an alethiometer, she confronts her enemies: the corrupt king of the ice bears, Ragnar Sturlusson (Ian McShane), the cruel Mrs Coulter (Kidman typecast as an ice queen) and hordes of Tartar henchmen.

What’s missing is any sense of Lyra’s exhilarating but perplexing journey from childhood innocence to incipient adulthood. In the book, we see everything from Lyra’s point-of-view, sharing her sense of wonder, her doubts and fears, her love for her shape-shifting daemon Pantalaimon. But like the Northern Lights themselves, glimpsed only briefly as a projected image, all this is missing. As with the scary Mrs Coulter, the film should possess, 'a scent of grown-upness, something disturbing and enticing at the same time.'

Instead, it’s a synthetic, flavourless product that lacks the subversive tang of Pullman’s source novel.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London

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User reviews of this film

reece said...

Posted on Apr 23 2009 11:34 shit

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Leena said...

Posted on Jan 02 2009 14:22 I thought this was a brilliant film had not read the book but have now purchased all three! People who moan about it get high then watch it!

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Jenni said...

Posted on Nov 10 2008 19:33 From reading all of thosse comments, and with not have reading the book, i find it very shocking and degrading how open minded people can be. The film i thought was fantastic, the magic i felt was there, but am open mind what is needed for the film, with reading Pullmans book and deciding what should happen should not effect the film as there is so much that certain cinema companies can do, if it where disney, no one would be complaining. The film i thought engaged alot of history using oxford as the college and seeing parts of the globe that many of us will never see. There should be another film to carry on with the golden compass, to conclude the film, not knowing what happens to any of the characters is just painstakingly annoying. The graphics and the detail which went into the film was amazing as the company had to create every single one of the animals and all of there movements, thats no walk in the park. There needs to be a second one, there just does as i and others need to know what happen

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Joe said...

Posted on Oct 01 2008 16:53 Oh and as a firther note, i am A) not an old person, B) actually quite common and never pronounse my T's, and C) think anyone who calls the book the golden compass should get their eyes tested unless they are american because you will clearly see in pretty letters, THE NORTHEN LIGHTS, that's what it's called, if you don't like it, don't review it's film

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Joe said...

Posted on Oct 01 2008 16:50 As a film on its own the golden compass (wrongly named which is annoying enough) was sub-par at best with the fake english accent of 'lyra', an alright family film i suppose, but a slight insult to all those who have ever read the book. Yes we all understand that book to film = shortened content, we have all seen Lord Of The Rings, but that was still a good adaptation, this was lacking most of the real core of the book, making the film barely an echo of the fantastic literature that is The Northen Lights. I've read rumors of the second book A Subtle Knife is being made with or without Warner Brothers' (who now own the original production studio) approval, i.e. the director will go independent if Bro's says no as the film, ironically, after being named in the American title, being made in the American style, and being completely veiwed as an Aermican 'thing', did apaulingly in the American box office, serves them right maybe? Regardless i hope they DON'T make the second book into a film UNLESS they actually commit to making it resembly the book more this time, and i don't care if it ends up being another three and a half hour marathon like Lord Of The Rings, at least then it will be worth watching, besides, you could still cut it down, as it is after all a smaller book camparitively, without losing the main threads of the story AND the core sub-text of the book, and all the anti-phillip pullman's slightly athiest writing followers, you don't have to see it, so stop complaining, we don't complain when you insult those who aren't of the faith out of the blue, if you don't like it, you do have the free capacity to not see it, it's not like god tells people to go watch films, that would be excessive. And no, i'm not an atheist, so stop judging and swithing off just because i dared to speak out at you

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gobbler said...

Posted on Jun 02 2008 17:32 I thought the film was a great fantasy film and it has done well all around the world. There was a real chemistry between Lyra and Roger. I have seen that Roger on TV before he is agreat little actor. I am looking forward to the next two films.

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Jesse said...

Posted on May 04 2008 06:24 I found that this was a really good movie, yes some parts where mxed up but hey at least they got them in there, as for the cast I think they did a really good job and I am really looking forward to the Subtle Knife movie

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maz said...

Posted on Apr 22 2008 09:45 worst film i have ever. even worse than Water World.

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Jamster said...

Posted on Apr 12 2008 10:35 What a film that was. i think you need to read the first part of the book to make it amazing but it was really good anyway. the end was absoloutly terrible but the film made up for that in the main. the firght between the bears was amazing and Pullmans idea of 'is that all you've got' was amazingly brillient. i can't wait until the next film it will be even better.

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Desmond said...

Posted on Mar 16 2008 05:08 Truly the worst movie I have ever seen. Cliche after cliche, Lyra's accent is all over the place, the CGI is amateur at best but really it's the story that is utterly lacking. I haven't read the book but if I was the author I'd either give up writing now or distance myself from this film as much as is humanly possible. Only two truths can exist here: either the story is rubbish beyond comprehension or the film is a terrible adapation.

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Siobhan said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 10:50 Oh, and I forgot to say Nicole Kidman was brilliant, and with the exception of Daniel Craig, the only good actor in this movie, including Lyra. And for those of you who asked (below) whos idea was it to cast her, it was in fact Philip Pullman, who wrote a letter to her begging to accept the part - even though inicially she didn't want to.

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Siobhan said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 10:46 Amazing film, I agree with the reviewer that it admittedly was nowhere near as good as the book, but with films - what do you expect? Of course it wasn't going to be 100% faithful to the book, I've learnt not to expect much from book-adapted movies, (with the exception of The Devil Wears Prada) However it would have been even better if they hadn't cut the last four chapters of the book and left us with a terrible meant-to-be-a-cliffhanger-but-fails-miserably ending that left us staring at the credits thinking - Is that it?!

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Candi said...

Posted on Feb 22 2008 18:05 After months of waiting to see this film on reading the books I have got to say I am so disappointed! The film didn't seem to flow from scene to scene as the book did,everything was in the wrong place. Lyra herself, although she had the right look, missed the passion and bold and powerful character reflected in the book. Just like Daniel bloody Radcliff in Harry Potter! What happened at the end too? Why didn't Lord Asriel build a bridge in to the other world and leave a cliff hanger, what was that ending all about!? Also, there was no magic to it, it was just boring. This film could have been something amazing, spellbinding, tragic, beautiful and mesmerizing and a truly brilliant tale that would leave a person desperate to see the next film. Why is it that the lord of the rings was so amazing and this turned out to be another Harry Potter? Leaving out all the blood & gore because of the children. Bad job!!!!

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critique said...

Posted on Feb 12 2008 17:12 My perspective is of one who has not read the book and I found it to be a moderately diverting fantasy entertainment.

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Becki said...

Posted on Feb 10 2008 20:49 The Golden Compass is the best moviein the universe but if Nicole Kidman wasnt in it i would hate it

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