The Golden Compass [Blu ray] :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Golden Compass

2008-07-15
My son loves this movie. He keeps picking up rocks and pretending they're a golden compass...I'm all for anything that inspires his creativity:)

What the...

2008-07-14
What in the world are we trying to do here? Forget all the hype from the religious sect about the story, there is no story. One's soul exists as an animal that travels with them?? The; to top it all off, there is no ending to the movie. I guess the production team (New Line) wants to sell the ending as another trip to the theater and more DVD sales.

Not worth the trip to the theater, and no need to desire to own this one.

OK At Best, Boring At Worst

2008-07-14
Going into this movie, I was either expecting to get hit over the head with the atheist book of nothingness, or sit through a torturous movie that defines why the fantasy genre should just give up now. And while I did not get hit over the head, nor was I tortured, I was just bored. And yes, the fantasy genre just keeps sinking lower with every copycat that tries to make a fast buck with a big budget. Really people, not every "bestselling" book that has the genre of fantasy should be made into a movie.

The story and mythology had me more confused then that time when I woke up on the moon, then realized it was just a dream. And if confusing wasn't enough, it was just plain weird. I mean, everybody except the polar bears and the witches had an animal following them all over the place, which was somehow connected to their soul or whatever, and these animals were called "demons." Which is even more confusing since the demons or witches in the movie aren't really "demons" or "witches."

The visual effect and action are what really keep the movie on its feet though. The "Steam-Punk" look of the cities, and the sheer magnificence of the backgrounds are sure to impress. In terms of action, to add to more confusion, the fight between polar bears, reminded me a lot of the fight between Peter and King Miraz from Narnia 2, in the fact that it didn't excite me, and tended to lean boring, since it was fight for the sake of fight, for fight's sake.

But don't let cute, almost Narnian look of this movie fool you, this is not for kids at least under 13, because you will scare the crap out of them, and even kids under 10-13 will have a hard time processing the film's more tense moments, and the sheer evality of the villains.

However, the film does deliver in the climax when Lyra escapes from the "experiment" proceeds to blow up the place, then run into a battle with a bunch of Russin lookin' characters with swords. And although it would have been a lot cooler if the Polar Bear brought his army to the battle, but hey, I'll take what I can get from this film. The battle offers the film's most exiting moments, and actually shows a glimpse of hope of a good movie.

The casting is rather good. Whether the cast was used to their full potential is another thing. Sam Elliot is great in his role, as is Nicole Kidman. The girl who played Lyra was good and kept you interested. But the voice cast on the other hand was thrown away. They were all interchangeable, and could have, and probably should have worked with lesser known actors portraying the roles, since no voice performance really stood out, or was in the least bit memorable. And even though Daniel Craig was put as a featured star, he was in the film for all of five minutes. Christopher Lee on the other hand could have had 30 seconds.

Fortunately, this movie is an hour and 40 minutes, instead of the 2 hours it could have been. Unfortunately, this movie banked way too much on having sequels, so the ending is hanging off a cliff with 1 finger. It offers no satisfaction, and it makes you wait for a sequel that probably will never come now. I mean, nothing is really resolved, except for a couple of side-quests. No bad guys are killed, and nothing is really done.

And to make matters worse, the credits song takes the award for WORST credits song of all time. It's a lazy effort with pathetic lyrics that has the musical-quality of singing rocks. And frankly, singing rocks is a lot more entertaining.

Random Rant: I was disappointed that the polar bear didn't drink Coke at any point in the movie, and Coke didn't have any advertising campaign associated with the movie that I can remember.

And although I have not, and will not read the source material, I'm glad they didn't stick to it. The movie was made better for me because I didn't feel like I was being preached at, although I expected to be. And while watching the movie, you don't feel like you're being whacked over the head with some atheistic crap. Sorry to offend all you people that believe in nothing, which is something (confusing I know), but Philip Pullman is the most offensive thing this side of a Nas record.

So overall, while this movie does have its moments; they are few and far between. Between the moments are a lot of information that flies over your head, a story that doesn't make much sense, and plot-turns and side-quests that are there just for the sake of being there, and don't really make sense. I don't care if the movie is congruent with the book, just give me a good movie.

Frustratingly Incomplete...

2008-07-13
2007's "The Golden Compass" has a lot going for it: an outstanding cast, a high concept plot, and astonishingly good special effects. It is all the more frustrating that after a good running start, the movie leaves its story seriously incomplete.

In the alternate universe of The Golden Compass, people's souls, called daemons, are embodied as animals that walk or fly in company with their owners. The people in this universe dress in the manner of the early 20th century but use of mixture of old and new technologies. They are controlled by the Magisterium, a mysterious, semi-religious organization dedicated to peace at the expense of free will and other inconvenient aspects of individuality.

At the center of the story is one Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), a precocious and brave young orphan in the care of a university. Her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), is a seeker of truth; he leaves early in the movie for the Far North, to discover the origins of a mysterious dust that may provide a link to other worlds. After his departure, a Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman as ice queen), arrives to take Lyra in hand and follow Lord Asriel to the North. It seems that Lyra is special; the university secretly entrusts her with a golden compass that only she can read and that tells the truth about all things.

Lyra shortly becomes aware that Mrs. Coulter is far from being the smooth society lady she appears to be. She escapes and links up with a group of sea-going gypsies to travel to the Far North herself. Her mission and that of the gypsies is to free a group of kidnapped children, one of whom is Lyra's best friend from the orphanage. Along the way, Lyra will meet a friendly witch (Eva Green), a great armored polar bear (voiced by Ian McKellan), a helpful aeronaut (Sam Elliot), and tribes of strange warriors. Her path leads her to a strange laboratory in the Far North, run by the Magisterium, where she will have a fateful confrontation with Mrs. Coulter.

The storyline is epic, on the scale of "The Lord of the Rings". The superb special effects make possible the fascinating landscapes of London and the Far North; battle scenes involving Tartar warriors, polar bears, and witches; and the seamless interaction between humans and their daemons. However, the movie never gets around to explaining its own confusing theology or the backgrounds of the principal players. Worse, the movie ends abruptly, without resolving any of the major plot elements. The viewer can only assume that one or more sequels are intended.

"The Golden Compass" is highly recommended as an entertaining visual feast to those who have the patience to wait for the necesary sequel or sequels that will finish the story, left seriously incomplete at the end of this movie.

killing god?

2008-07-13
ok... i'm usually not all that for hating a movie because of my religious beliefs but come on... a movie whos base is a book about killing god? are you kidding me... nicole kidman you should be ashamed of yourself. anything for a buck though... for those of you who liked the movie... bring a pair of shorts... because i hear its hot down there.

The Golden Compass review

2008-07-23
I hadn't read the novel before the movie, so I enjoyed the condensed version on screen, but my teenaged son lamented that so many parts had been left out from the book. It's nearly impossible to capture the full spirit and flavor of a book, or include all the chapters and details in the movie version, but this tale has plenty of great fantasy fiction and I found it very entertaining. A young girl with a good heart has her determination fully tested when she attempts to rescue her kidnapped friends. It was left just a little 'opened-ended' to make room for a sequel, but not in a way that leaves the viewer frustrated.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Amazing

2008-07-23
Pros: Excellent story, amazing animation, fast moving, realistic story given that it seems to be based on a re-mix of our own history.
This is a replacement for Harry Potter since that story (movie sequence) seems to be wrapping up.

Cons: This story is going to span about 3 movies which is a good thing if you don't mind waiting for the remaining films.

In The Not-Too-Distant Future...

2008-07-22
Once upon a time, there was a show called Mystery Science Theater 3000. The premise of this show was to take bad movies from bygone days and riff snarky comedy off of them.

Watching MST3k (as it was known by its fans, the MSTies), I was always led to wonder about the original films. For most of them, presumably, there was a day when the movie was taken kind of seriously. I mean, maybe not Manos, but some of those others -- they had writers, directors, and actors who wanted to produce a decent, money-making product (not to mention the investors/producers!). I also bet that a number of the movies spoofed by Joel, Mike & the bots had fans at one point. That they were not complete flops at the theater, or in the minds of the theater-goers.

In many respects, cinema has changed from then to now. Budgets are up all-around, and standards have changed so that we're not likely to see the zippers on monsters anymore. But, as the expression goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Bad writing is still bad writing. Zippers on costumes have been replaced with bad CG effects. And high-budget schlock is arguably worse than the low-budget variety. I expect that 30 years from now, we'll again be able to support an MST3k-type venture. If so, certainly there are movies from our age that they could slam with justice.

I submit to you that The Golden Compass is one of those movies.

Reading Philip Pullman's novel was a decent experience. I enjoyed it. After having read the following two novels in his trilogy, I eventually decided that (sadly) Pullman doesn't really know what he was doing, and that The Golden Compass was more the exception than the rule.

Watching this film, where all of the main plot events are presented at a break-neck, frenetic pace, it made me feel foolish for ever having liked the first novel to begin with. The characters are cardboard (what acting talent went to waste, here!), the plot events are unbelievable (even given the grand latitude I cut children's fantasy), and whatever thematic material there is, is convoluted and obscure.

This isn't a good movie. It stuffs a mess of exposition into an opening voice over then runs from event to event without time to enjoy anything. I remember in reading the novel that there was some time at the beginning to get to know Lyra before she set out with Mrs. Coulter; here, it happens in the space of about 15 minutes. Seeing the characters come to life points out their basic absurdity, like Lee Scorsby who I could take somewhat seriously in the novel, but not at all here -- he becomes a Texan caricature. Even with its CG world and creatures, this movie never achieves the sense of wonder of, say, a Neverending Story; it has no time for a sense of wonder, and Iorek and Serafina Pekkala are cold substitutes for the likes of Falkor.

At the least, the movie tries to address some of the shortcomings of Pullman's book, in reorganizing the final events to end on the main plot's climax, and small things like making Lyra's the only extant alethiometer. But those (good) changes can't overcome the central weaknesses of the story which are only heightened by seeing it try to come to life on the screen.

His Dark Materials is often compared (grossly unfairly) with The Lord of the Rings. They are similar, however, in that I'd imagine it would be hard to make either into good films, given the amount of action and detail in them. The Lord of the Rings was given the running time and the care to pull it off in glorious fashion. The Golden Compass, however much money was put into it, was a failure. It disappoints its source material which, in the final analysis, was never all that great. The only good thing to really come out of this film is that, it did so poorly both financially and critically, that the sequels will almost certainly not get made.

Another good can be made from this film: fodder for a future version of Mystery Science Theater 3000. What do you think, sirs?

One of the best and most beautiful fantasy films in a long time!

2008-07-19
I absolutely loved this film! Between the narrow-minded religious righters, and the hardcore book fans, this movie was bound to get a lot of negative reviews. But it is smart, well acted, well written, and stunning to watch. Most of all, it is a wonderful and brilliantly thought out mythology. One of the most creative and thorough I have seen.

I find it funny that half the negative reviews say it moved too fast, and the other half say it was too boring. I thought it was just wonderful, and can hardly wait for the next movie!! PS. To the people who say this bombed, it has done EXTREMELY WELL in Europe!

Lots of "telling" and no clear character motivation

2008-07-18
This movie is fun to watch for the CGI world, and the acting is generally fine, but those are the only good parts. The overall storytelling is terrible, and the characters' motivations are never explained.

It starts in the narration at the beginning when we're told that the Magisterium wants to preserve their truth so they've destroyed all the alethiometers (which reveal hidden truths) and banned the mention of dust. What does the Magisterium fear from dust?? We're never told. And what "truths" is the Magisterium trying to protect? We're never told. The movie basically says, "They're the bad guys" but gives no other explanation.

What is the motivation of Nicole Kidman's character to do what she does? We're never told. How do the Gyptians (or whatever they're called) know that the missing kids have been taken to the north? We're never told. Why does the movie billing say that it stars Daniel Craig when he only appears in the first five minutes? We're never told!

However, we are "told" lots of the story. Instead of *showing* the story to us, several of the characters have long lines explaining all sorts of things for the benefit of the audience. Boring and contrived. And two characters tell Lyra bits of information that she uses later in the story, but the characters have no reason to tell her those things at the time that they tell her. Very awfully contrived.

One of the worst aspects of this movie is that it is an incomplete first installment that makes no attempt to wrap up any story lines so that the audience feels any sense of closure. The Harry Potter stories are all complete in themselves. The Narnia stories are all complete in themselves. This movie is just an ad for sequels. By the very end of the movie they have managed to assemble most (not all) of "the team" that is obviously intended to go on together. But even that is incomplete, with Lyra saying "Now let's go pick up my dad and add him to the team" but then the movie ends. They don't rescue dad. They don't explain the dust. They don't explain anyone's motivations. And they don't give the audience a satisfying movie experience.

I haven't read the book, but I'll be generous and assume that the author did a much better job with all this, and they just couldn't find a way to fit all the bits into the movie. Look elsewhere for a well-done fantasy movie. I hope they don't waste money and time on a sequel.