The Golden Compass 2007

      This film is based on the first book in Phillip Pullman’s best-selling trilogy.  It was not an ordinary life for a young girl living among scholars in the hallowed halls of Jordan College.  She ran unsupervised through Oxford's motley streets on mad quests for adventure.  But Lyra's greatest adventure would begin closer to home.  It was the day she heard hushed talk of an extraordinary new particle.  Microscopic in size, the magical dust was discovered in the vast Arctic expanse of the North.  It was rumored to possess profound properties that could unite whole universes.  But, there were those who feared this particle and would stop at nothing to destroy it.  Catapulted into the heart of a terrible struggle, Lyra was forced to seek aid from clans, ‘gyptians' and formidable armored bears.  Gyptians are an ethnic group and they made their homes in the Fens of Britain.  And, as she journeyed into unbelievable danger, she did not have the faintest clue that she alone was destined to win or to losethis more-than-mortal battle!!
     
     This action-packed fantasy based on the first book will feel threatening to young children.  Animals and children are in constant peril and young children will be upset by the threatened separation of the furry animals (daemons) and humans.  There are also many tense and violent scenes!!  Chases, fierce and growling animals, shootings, as well as a fairly graphic battle between two enormous polar bears (one knocks the other's jaw off).  And, there's a major clash between children and adult troops that includes guns, arrows, swords, clubs, chains, hooks and explosions.  The main character is a 12-year-old girl who goes up against evil forces to save her friends.  Although some religious groups have urged a boycott of this film based on its allegedly anti-Christian content, there is no specific language or imagery related to Christianity.
     
     There are problems with this film!!  Some thoughts by viewers are that it is anti-Catholic, it guts the backbone of the book, the story has been watered down and rushed, special effects are cheesy, the story goes off on tangents, it introduces things but never says what they are and it is not the next Lord of the Rings.  4* (I liked this movie)

113 min, Adventure directed and written by Chris Weitz with Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Ben Walker, Freddie Highmore, Ian McKellen, Eva Green, Jim Carter, Tom Courtenay, Ian McShane, Sam Elliott, Christopher Lee, Kristin Scott Thomas, Edward de Souza, Kathy Bates.  

Reviews:  Goodreads gives the book 3.99* out of 5* with 1,299,388 ratings and 22,498 reviews, Imdb 6.1* out of 10* with 178,331, Rotten Tomatoes 42% with 198 critics 51% with 350,616 audience scores, Common Sense Media Cynthia Fuchs age 12+ 3* violence, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 1707 reviews, RollingStone 1 1/2* Peter Travers.
 
Special Note:  George R.R. Martin cited this movie as one of the reasons he wanted the Game of Thrones (2011) to be shown as a television series rather than movies.  Despite prominent billing, Sir Christopher Lee only had one line.  Daniel Craig did most of his own stunts especially in the Swiss glaciers.  Philip Pullman, author of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, originally wanted Jason Isaacs to play Lord Asriel, Nicole Kidman to play Mrs. Coulter and Samuel L. Jackson  to play Lee Scoresby.  

Mistakes:  Right before Lord Asriel is captured, he slides over a cliff of ice.  In the first shot of him when he reaches the bottom at 42:11, he has a large scrape on one side of his face but in the next and following scenes it is gone?  When Lord Asriel is walking through the snow before he gets captured, he reaches with his right hand to pull down his goggles at 40:58.  In a closer shot also at 40:58, it shows him pulling them off with his left hand?  The first shot of Lyra in the Experimental Station is a reverse angle of her walking through a doorway with double doors at 01:22:35.  When the shot changes to the front at 01:22:42, the doors are closed?