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| The Golden Compass (New Line Platinum Series Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) | 
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| Director: Chris Weitz
Actors: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Ben Walker (ix), Freddie Highmore
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $10.01
You Save: $24.98 (71%)
New (50) Used (25) Collectible (3) from $7.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  245 reviews
Sales Rank: 4979
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Icelandic (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 113
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: TRNDN38167D
UPC: 794043120435
EAN: 0794043120435
ASIN: B00005JPNY
Theatrical Release Date: December 7, 2007
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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| Customer Reviews:
 Missing the point of the novel March 4, 2008
25 out of 38 found this review helpful
The movie abruptly ends and completely ignores the final and most important chapter from the original book. The last chapter is what makes you read the next book. I could not believe they removed this from the movie. If you have not read the novel then the movie does not disappoint, but from a fan of the book, I was utterly annoyed and frustrated.
Enjoyable fantasy December 11, 2007
18 out of 37 found this review helpful
There's a lot to like in this movie, so let's start there. The CGI is outstanding, for example. The technology keeps getting better every year, and this movie rides the wave. The bears are about as convincing as anything I've seen, down to the rippling of their thick hides when two crash together in combat. The adventure never stops, keeping a solid pace from one scene to the next, right to the very end.
That's where the not-to-like part of the movie comes in. It seems to end about two chapters before where the book ended. That omission cut out one of the most dramatic sequences in the book, albeit an obvious cliff-hanger and sequel bait - maybe those scenes really do belong at the start of the inevitable next movie rather than the end of this one. One other scene translated badly to movie form, too: finding the "cut" child and what followed. The book's version was much darker, maybe a bit much for the film's intended audience. Those were probably the two most crucial scenes in the book. I'd say the movie got pretty much everything right except for those two scenes - the two that really mattered. Oh, and the scene where she discovers her parentage, that suffered badly in translation to the big screen, too.
Like the plot elements, the characters were bleached to pale, bland ghosts of their book form. It's probably just as well. If Lyra had much of a real personality about her, it might have been hard to swallow her effortless skipping from one dramatic victory against crushing odds to the next. A real girl might have had a case of the nerves in single-handedly facing down hundreds of sword-bearing warriors and wolves, or in other of her dramatic moments. Just a little, at least. Not our Lyra - something as credible as a bit of fear or doubt would have smudged the Barbie-like slickness of our little heroine's image.
It's fair adventure and fantasy, with lots for the eyes to enjoy. Not much gets past the optic nerve and into the thinking mind, though.
-- wiredweird
 A Criminally Underrated Genre-Bender : A Well Deserved Oscar February 26, 2008
17 out of 32 found this review helpful
Learning that "The Golden Compass" won the Oscar for Best Special Effects in 2008 should push the makers to produce its' sequels. As a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy story-telling, this was one book-to-movie adaptation I had waited for, and this was one rare instance where I found the film excelling the book in certain aspects.
One of the prime reasons I liked the book was because of its new take on Christianity and the Catholic Church in general. It didn't really say anything new, but the fact that a 'childrens' book could even address such topics was of course controversial to a certain degree. That said, the film does away with explicit reference to the Church, though everyone acts and behaves in a manner suited to the old guard of the Catholic Church. Believe me, the religious subtext in this movie is quite subtle - but if you pick up on certain lines and bits of dialogue, they did manage to slide a lot in here that I'm glad censors didn't pick up on it. For this alone, it breaks new ground.
Second, I am probably the only person around who doesn't think too highly of both the 'Harry Potter' and 'The Lord of the Rings' movie franchises. I never particularly cared for LOTR as a book, and the film versions seemed overwrought and way too pretentious for their own good. But thats just me. "The Golden Compass" is far superior to both those book series, in my opinion, and in a movie it soars past both of them. THIS is what a fantasy film should look like - challenging situations, amazing use of CGI (most of which was created by an obscure design firm in Mumbai, India of all places) and a spectacular acting job by the young leads.
The concept of a 'daemon' (pronounced 'demon') was always interesting to me from the start - but the wondrous use of imagery elevates this concept to a whole new level here - it really is something you've never seen on the screen before. Nicole Kidman's daemon is a golden monkey - one of the more luminous creatures in this film - and she is caught in a battle of love and hate with it.
The young actress who plays the lead should be especially commended. In her scenes as conniving wench who acts as instigator between the two great polar bears, she is superb. Eva Green plays a witch who believes in eternal love, and this beautiful French actress should have been given more screen time. However, its in its' scenes with Nicole Kidman that give this movie an edge of fear and suspense - she plays it straight, with no emotion in her eyes except calculation and scheming - and her scenes crackle with intensity.
"The Golden Compass" is a big-screen movie, but no doubt it rightfully will find a place in your DVD library. It definitely deserves to. As an adult, the film spoke to me of so many mature, adult themes, leading me to believe that Pullman wrote these books with the world at large as his audience, not just children. In fact, the thought that your daemon can change its' shape repeatedly when you're young, but settles down into one form as you grow older - is a direct confirmation of social conditioning and personal self-worth and identification. The film challenges religious beliefs, but doesn't condemn religion. If you're worried about anti-Christian sentiments here, don't worry. Your children won't pick up on any of it - but they might come back to you with lots of questions. In my book, a great thing.
Films like this are one in a million. Granted not all 'special effects' films have a heart, but this one has a heart, mind and soul that is SO very different from other films of the genre. It truly is a very different, special movie, that not many people will 'get'. If you think of yourself as reasonably intelligent, and a little 'different' from people around you - well, then this is the movie for you.
Five Solid Stars.
Fans of the book....Watch out! December 9, 2007
15 out of 32 found this review helpful
The casting for this movie was fantastic; the acting was great, and everyone did a really good job. The special effects were even good...But if you're a huge fan of the book (like me) then I'm afraid you'll find this movie to be a disappointment...I was so sad after watching it; I had waited forever for it to come out, and then it hardly follows the plotline for the book at all. The ending was cliche as anything (kids all running out of Bolvanger while the facility blows up...what?!?!?!), and it wasn't supposed to end where it did. The movie rushed into everything and left out so much that was in the book.
I would have expected a lot better of New Line, especially with their good adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
 Harry Stardust And The Lord Of The Dead Man's Chest And The Wardrobe December 9, 2007
15 out of 26 found this review helpful
Pfffft.
Watching this movie is like listening to Paris Hilton reading Othello: we're fairly certain that we ought to be impressed by the material but there's no punch or muscle behind the vaguely epic plot to explain the various grandiose settings and overblown production.
Starring a whole slew of "Hey! It's..." A-list actors, "The Golden Compass" tells the tale of Lyra, an orphan girl living in a University in a version of Earth that's very different to our own. She's invited by the sinister Mrs. Coulter, an employee of the shadowy Magisterium, to accompany her on a mission to the North, where Lyra's uncle Lord Asriel is researching the mysterious properties of Dust (a mystical and feared substance). When Mrs. Coulter turns out to be something more than she first believed, Lyra escapes and goes on a quest to find her kidnapped friends, reinstate the king of the bears, free imprisoned children from the Magisterium's grasp and return the legendary truth-finding device known as the Alethiometer to her Uncle.
So much for the basic plot. Performance-wise, Dakota Blue Richards is very good as Lyra, and Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig (for the two-and-a-half seconds he's actually IN this movie), Eva Green and Sam Elliot do perfectly passable jobs in their roles. There's not much of a chance to really act, given the limitations of the script and editing, and so the supporting human roles, as well as those voice roles filled by the likes of Sir Ian McKellen and Kathy Bates, fall kind of flat.
The script, for what it is, feels often like a mere explanation for the visual effects, as opposed to developing characterisation or furthering the story: it's not terribly memorable and contains nothing you'll not have seen before.
The visuals are amazing, for the most part: top-drawer art and production design coupled with some gorgeous CGI make for some very compelling scenes - there are really only one or two points (Lyra riding on the back of Iorek Byrnison immediately springs to mind) where things look fake. The bottle-of-orange-soda effects when the Alethiometer is doing its thing do begin to grate after a while, though, and the Witches look just like every other Evanescence Emo-wannabe you'd love to smack with a broomstick. But, for the most part, "The Golden Compass" is a visual treat.
The editing is really what lets "The Golden Compass" down: scenes jump from conflict to resolution at a disappointingly rapid pace, and there's absolutely no chance to develop a sense of connection with any one character because of the lack of time spent on any one situation. Also, the direction is infuriatingly pedestrian: in "About A Boy" Chris Weitz proved himself capable of more than silly little American Pie tragedies, but here, he seems to be out of his depth as the potential of Lyra's world and the stunning effects and art of "The Golden Compass" go largely unexploited.
This is a very disappointing movie: if you've read the books then don't waste an evening in theatres watching this: a one-time DVD rental will be enough to satisfy your curiosity. Check out "Stardust", "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" or "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" instead of this one: they;re far, far more rewarding and much better made movies.
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