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Product Description:
In a parallel universe where witches rule the skies and armoured bears are the bravest warriors young Lyra Belacqua journeys from her home among the scholars at Oxford to the far North to save her best friend. Based on the first book in the Carnegie Medal-winning series His Dark Materials.Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY UPC: 794043120442 Manufacturer No: 1000038168
From Amazon.com:
A fantasy epic with more than a passing resemblance to the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia film franchises, The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate universe where each human's soul is embodied in a companion animal called a daemon. Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), an orphan who's lived most of her life among the scholars at Oxford, is intrigued when her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), announces his plans to travel north to investigate the source of some mysterious particles called Dust. Lyra has little hope of following her uncle until a mysterious woman named Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman, at her most icily beautiful) asks Lyra to travel north as her personal assistant. All is not as it seems, however, and the disappearance of Lyra's friend Roger (Ben Walker) sets her on a dizzying adventure. She does have an alethiometer, or golden compass, that can help her see the truth, and a number of companions, including her shape-shifting daemon, Pantalaimion (voiced by Freddie Highmore of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), polar-bear warrior Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), Texas aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), and witch queen Serafina Pekkala (Craig's Casino Royale co-star, Eva Green). Even before its release, The Golden Compass was the subject of controversy over its perceived anti-religious themes. While it does involve an oppressive institution called the Magisterium, it's not overtly religious, particularly to a young viewer. The movie's PG-13 rating should be taken seriously, however. Suitable for an older audience than Narnia (though younger than The Lord of the Rings), it deals with complex concepts, violence (though largely bloodless) and implied death, children and animals in peril, and an unrelentingly ominous and unsettling mood. Despite a few changes and rearrangements, the overall plot of the movie is remarkably faithful to its source material, the first installment of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It doesn't finish the book, however, and--much like The Fellowship of the Ring did--leaves the viewer hanging in anticipation of the next film, The Subtle Knife, due in 2009. So even though The Golden Compass is impressive--especially with its spot-on cast and terrific visual effects--we probably won't know its full emotional impact until the story is complete. --David Horiuchi
Majestic & Beautiful...but stripped of its deep meaning. - 
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The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] DVD Review
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A spectacular rendering of Philip Pullman's magnificent world(s), this is the closest that a movie has been able to match the imagery that the author's words created in my mind. The graphics and special effects were absolutely spectacular, to say the least, and the casting was perfect.
Sadly though, the main meaning of the book was stripped down to it's bare minimum and the complex story was chopped up and dumbed down. I give it 5 out of 5 stars simply for the experience of seeing what I imagined on the silver screen. I recommend this to any one who enjoys a good piece of eye candy every now and again but I must compel anyone who seriously wants the intellectual experience of this tale to READ THE BOOK FIRST. I simply can not wait for the Subtle Knife...
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Kept Going South - 
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The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] DVD Review
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This one was rife with problems. I went in wanting this to be good, but there was just nothing to make it a compelling flick. The characters are boring and one-dimensional, either evil because "that's how things are" or good because "we aren't going to take this anymore!" The film was shot with no regard to pacing at all. There are gratuitous shots of scenery just so the filmmakers could show off how wonderful their environments were. The whole thing even wraps up with a plot synopsis of the upcoming films, which runs something like:
"Can we go home now?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"We have to find a way to milk this franchise for all its worth. There are many people out there who are craving a secular, humanistic fantasy story, and we'll give it to them."
"Oh. Okay. How?"
*Explanation of inevitable plot points*
"Oh. Okay."
Credits.
Underwhelming, at best.
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A MASTERPIECE! A Symbolically Intellectual Fantasy With Deep Implications! - 
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The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] DVD Review
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On occasion producers, directors and screenwriters and all of the other hard working and dedicated people involved in an undertaking of this magnitude get it all right, and the result is a masterpiece of cinematography. The story is a symbolic fantasy revolving around a young woman at the center of intrigue concerning the attempt by the murderous minions of the "Magisterium" to control all human thought and behaviour not only in this universe, but in ALL possible universes. Strangely apropos vis a vis the current "many universe" theories of physicist David Deutsch and others, the story can be enjoyed by the young and by the young of heart and mind no matter of what physical age as the beautiful cinematography and music, and the well developed plot proceed at a suspenseful but well paced speed to the satisfying and exciting finale.
I must say the author's spiritual conceptions are wonderfully imaginative and can be considered to be a part of the growing modern movement which introduces far greater tolerance of different spiritual conceptions than would have ever been allowed in the world of even the recent past.
Outstanding movie... and, if your curiosity to learn more details was as mine, you will go out and buy the book - I am reading it with GREAT enjoyment right now!
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golden compass rocks - 
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The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] DVD Review
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This movie is wonderful! Of course, it isn't as good as the book, but that's always the case!
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Beautiful looking movie - 
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The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] DVD Review
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Very good looking movie on Blu-Ray and DVD, sound quality and picture quality where top notch. The movie itself was decent but needs to tell the whole story about how things are and how things came to be, if they would have touched on this they would have had a great movie, not just an ok or good movie to some. As far as the Religious overtones to some this is way overblown. Religion has been exploited for years in many different cultures and many say everyone else is wrong, and are not very excepting of other peoples religions or ideas and that what the movie tends to point out, more so in the book. This movie is very watered down compared to the books and still people are complaining about it.... ;)
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