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Lyra Belaqua, a young girl living in Oxford's Jordan College, embarks on a perilous journey to rescue her best friend and fight the forces of darkness.
27 June 1981
2 June 1997, London, England, UK
26 July 1972, St. Asaph, Wales, UK
24 May 1960, Redruth, Cornwall, England, UK
6 July 1980, Paris, France
11 April 1994, South Kensington, London, England, UK
1993, Essex, England, UK
25 August 1957, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
1978, Lambeth, London, England, UK
23 April 1996, Islington, London, England, UK
30 July 1966, Albrighton, Shropshire, England, UK
February 29, 2016
Director Chris Weitz... manages to bring out the best in his ensemble cast and never fails to lose the attention of the viewer throughout 114 minutes.
December 13, 2007
The Catholic League thinks it's anti-Catholic. Admirers of Philip Pullman's 1995 His Dark Materials trilogy think the film guts the backbone of the book. Me, I just think it blows.
December 10, 2007
Some of the material is wildly imaginative, some of it is just kinda silly. But it all looks good, and the kids are likable, [and] Kidman makes for an intriguing villain.
November 03, 2016
"The Golden Compass ultimately fails as a film in its broad strokes and inadequate scene development."
December 07, 2007
The Golden Compass is a blatant attempt to duplicate the success of the Harry Potter franchise. The only thing missing is richly imagined characters, a comprehensible story line, good acting, and satisfying special effects.
July 14, 2008
An engaging fantasy adventure that, albeit no masterpiece, is hardly the disaster one might have imagined.
May 20, 2008
I realize that when you make a book into a movie you cannot include every single detail, but it seems like Weitz purposely tried to take all of the magic out of the story.
March 22, 2011
The Golden Compass isn't bad, it's cast is too good and it's too well made, but something fundamental to good storytelling - heart - has been lost, leaving a final product as icy and impossible to care for as Mrs. Coulter herself.
September 05, 2015
Begets the less than ringing endorsement, 'Yeah, whatever. It was OK I suppose.'
January 29, 2008
Lyra surpasses the timid drone of Pan's Labyrinth or the Pevensies' do-gooder sap, she's brave, smart, and the best liar in the universe.
December 07, 2007
With its rushed, jargon-pumped exposition, surplus of quarter-baked characters, stray narrative strands and generously dropped hints of things possibly to come, The Golden Compass is a movie that wears its franchise ambitions on its sleeve.
