I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

All the bad things about this movie: 1) they didnt even call it the proper title 2) Very Very inacurate to the book 3) its not even a golden compass its an athethiometer 4) lousy screenplay 5) an insult to Phillip pullman 6) why did they have to cast an americain atress to play the evil woman 7) Just generally a let down 8) why did Phillip pullman even allow this adaption to be made 9) it felt like they just picked bits from the book, at random and put them in any old order. 10) it is dumed down to suit the american audience, when the book is by a wonderful british author all the good things about this movie: 1) good cast overall 2) good special effectsthats all i have to say

In a world where parallel universes coexisted, bounded by dust, a young girl and her daemon travel north to discover the faith of children kidnapped by a secret and mysterious organization. Along the way, she makes new friends but also enemies which try, at all cost, to get her Golden Compass, a device which tells the truth to anyone who can read it.We're presented a fantastic world, full of interesting creatures and characters, who play their decisive part in the outcome of the final battle which is to come. Although it leaves room for a sequel, its finale is a bit lame and unconvincing. The story itself is nothing groundbreaking but good overall, unfortunately failing to keep my attention throughout its entire length. I was also disappointed by the fact that Daniel Craig, although present on the poster, appears for brief and rare moments, having no implication in the outcome of the movie while Nicole Kidman's character isn't as determined to complete its job as I hoped.It turned out to be an average movie although its cast and plot suggested it can be much more than that.

This fantasy film doesn't fit with the general genre of fairy tales. It's far too dark for that. I don't know how closely the film follows the novel by Philip Pullman. I can see why it's PG-13, because there's way too much frightening stuff for kids in "The Golden Compass." The screenplay doesn't achieve a clear separation of the good and bad in the scenes of violence. Whatever message may have been intended surely wasn't clear – unless it was confusion. For older kids and adults, it's not very well done. The screenplay is hard to follow, or make connections in places. The one very good thing about the production is the melding of the animation, CGI and real life characters and scenes. For that the film deserved it Oscar for best visual effects. But the story is to disjointed, and there's nothing special about any of the acting. I wonder why Nicole Kidman would take the part of Mrs. Coulter in this movie. Movie makers who want to do fantasies of this sort should study Peter Jackson's work in "The Lord of the Rings" series.

If you are five years old, you may enjoy this film. If you are older, you may sense that there are important elements of the story missing that would help you to make sense of it. I was deeply shocked at some of the major plot-points that were left out of this film in an effort to make it family-friendly. First of all, Pantalaimon is Lyra's externalised soul, and to give him an 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' cloying and sickly-sweet voice was an insult to the character. Lyra's character was one of a wild child, and Pantalaimon a wild beast - so anyway - that is just for starters. I would be here all day if I listed all the things that were left out or dumbed-down, but another major fault was - little Tony Markarios had his daemon severed, and so he becomes little more than a zombie or a corporeal ghost, before his remaining body dies from the shock of having his soul sliced away from him by the Oblation Board. I cannot understand why they would remove one of the most important plot-points! Iorek Byrnison is also a wild beast, and the whole point of his character is that he has no vanity, and yet they gave him horrendously fancy and frilly armour, again completely at odds with the whole point of his character! So many other ways in which they strayed from the story but it hurts too much to go on. This is a film that needs to re-done and directed by someone like David Yates, who totally 'gets' stories like this. It was either adapted and directed by stupid people or an extremely conservative 'family values' committee. If you want pure undiluted entertainment, read the book.