Various media outlets have published reviews of The Golden Compass and they are mostly positive. Many single out the impressive visual effects and the acting performances of newcomer Dakota Blue Richards and veteran Nicole Kidman. A summary of the reviews we could find so far, with short extracts, follow.
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Positive Reviews
The Telegraph: An epic grandeur that's hard to resist
Pullman's fight between two armoured bears becomes a sequence that Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson would be proud of - it's lumbering and majestic, and the fate of one combatant produced gasps of awe from my audience. This is undoubtedly the highlight, but the whole tale has a momentum and grandeur that's hard to resist, especially when propelled along by a magnificent, tense and thunderous score for which Alexandre Desplat deserves an Oscar.
The Daily Mail: The Compass that points to a feast of fantasy
Within seconds of being seduced, though, you're terrified. This broad is a real villain. She's sinister, manipulative and complex, radiating a sense of menace. [Nicole Kidman's] performance in the picture, the first based on Philip Pullman's best-selling His Dark Materials trilogy, is her most powerful since winning the best actress Oscar for Stephen Daldry's The Hours.
The movie's other big "wow" factor is 13-year-old Dakota Blue Richards, who plays impish heroine Lyra Belacqua. She's a revelation - a world away from the usual movie brat you get in Hollywood blockbusters.
The Evening Standard: Nicole gets back her bearings in golden role - 4/5 stars
A beautifully made, spectacularly designed family movie, it dares to ask serious questions about good and evil, free will and adolescent sexuality. Granted many of these topics will float over the heads of its younger audience - but there's a spoonful of medicine mixed in with the sugar.
If Darth Vader wore a blond wig, a slinky dress and a dab of Chanel behind each ear, he could hardly be as evil as Nicole Kidman, playing the gorgeous villainess Mrs Coulter in this spectacular new movie version of Northern Lights, the opening episode of Philip Pullman's fantasy series His Dark Materials.
The crowded imaginary universe of The Golden Compass takes some getting used to, and in some ways, as a non-follower of the Pullman books, I have still to be entirely sold on it. But it certainly looks wonderful, with epic dash and a terrific central performance from Nicole Kidman, who may come to dominate our children's nightmares the way Robert Helpmann's Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang once did ours. It has no other challengers as this year's big Christmas movie.
FOX News: Nicole Kidman's 'Compass' Points to Success
And while all the performances are spot on, I think the Oscars and other awards entities are going to be more interested in the technical stuff. Visual effects and production design are haunting and magnificent. Like "The Chronicles of Narnia," "Compass" is meant to entertain and disturb children of all ages. Director Chris Weitz has done just that, although this film is hardly lighthearted. It gets very dark and a little violent, especially during a gladiator-like showdown between the polar bears.
More importantly, "The Golden Compass" is a large-scale thoughtful fantasy, something to get lost in during a holiday film season when there’s a lot more realistic doom and gloom to contemplate.
The Sun: Watch out Harry Potter, there’s a new magical tale in town.
A seamless mix of live action and computer-generated images brings to life a colourful cast of weird and wonderful characters. From the countless animal daemons and massive warrior-like bears to the inventive aircraft and intricate instruments, the special effects are as stunning as the snow-covered landscapes they inhabit.
But despite the computer trickery the cast, which also includes Eva Green, Jim Carter, Christopher Lee and Tom Courtenay, hold their own. Thirteen-year-old Dakota Blue makes an enchanting debut. With a dark and complicated plot and a few scenes that will have you jumping out of your seat, The Golden Compass is definitely not for very young children. But for older ones and adults who enjoy fantasy, it’s a must, a well-written, beautifully delivered adventure.
Emanuel Levy (film critic) - B
There are so many original ideas and intriguing characters in "The Golden Compass," the film version of Philip Pullman's first book of his acclaimed trilogy "His Dark Materials," that one is willing to disregard the movie's major flaws: Chris Weitz's uninspired direction and the uneven special effects that ultimately don't reflect the state-of-the-art technology of fantasy films.
Overall, "Golden Compass" is a likable, moderately engaging, and well-acted children's fable, but it lacks the magic and unified style visionary directors such as Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonoso Cuaron, and Peter Jackson would have given to such rich literary source material.
The Hollywood Reporter A golden celebration of childhood fantasies
Boxoffice looks substantial. Adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, "Golden Compass" possesses its own movie wizardry, ranging from terrific stunts and CG critters to otherworldly sets and all sorts of 2-D and 3-D visual effects. It's an imagination overload, yet the film maintains a steady course through the FX mire with a strong story line and viable characters at every turn.
Both Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are fine in their respective roles, Craig's scenes in the arctic deliberately filmed to echo a James Bond film he never starred in. Kidman, always best when evil, offers a kind of fractured glacial intent. But the star here is the discovery, Dakota Blue Richards, who seems to balance ladylike imperiousness with a taste for occasional deceit and the tomboyish adventure.
Technically the film is a marvel, and director Chris Weitz (About a Boy) has done wonders in getting such a team together – especially since director Anand Tucker walked on the project at its early stages. Design and special effects are state-of-the-art and the music by Alexandre Desplat is above-average for this kind of family film. It's artfully contrived to take up the late-year holiday slot left empty by the conclusion of New Line's own Lord of the Rings and the lagged scheduling of Harry Potter and Narnia follow-ups; it's cold and wintery and has talking animals. Some may baulk at its chilly tone and moments of really quite alarming violence. But for much of its audience, no-one could ask for more.
Mixed Reviews
New Line's bid for another "Lord of the Rings" bonanza kicks off with writer-director Chris Weitz's impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure about a chosen girl's momentous struggle against insidious forces that would extinguish free will. Visual splendor and scent of a franchise should lure considerable crowds, especially internationally, although it's doubtful "Compass" will find a B.O. path anywhere near "Narnia," much less Middle-earth.
In comparison to its weighty blockbuster rivals, The Golden Compass is frustratingly fleeting. Well under two hours, it’s a film that demands the extra detail and development for Pullman’s endeavours. What remains is a beautifully designed, still fascinating world, choppily structured and studded with often-clunky set pieces.
Negative Reviews
New Line Cinema has poured a fortune into the dazzling animations and wintery landscapes. The special effects are marvellous, but the magic is missing. The power of Pullman’s novels is that he invents an imaginary world just an inch out of kilter with our own. People catch zeppelins instead of aeroplanes; the young heroes speak an improbable brand of cockney; the story unfolds like a mad Dickensian fantasy.
Still, Dakota Blue Richards is terrific casting as Lyra, the 12-year-old star of The Golden Compass. A waif who has gifts beyond her ken, she was brought up, half-wild, by stuffy academics in a stodgy Oxford college. Her dashing and dangerous uncle, Lord Asriel (played by Daniel Craig), is too busy tramping around the Arctic to give her the time of day. But their lives are forever in danger. Both heroes are stalked by sinister members of the Magisterium – an outfit that wants to rule the world. Derek Jacobi calls the creepy shots while Nicole Kidman is his fabulously glamorous sidekick, a Cruella de Vil role that Kidman plays to icy perfection.
The problem with the film, which has its world premiere in Leicester Square tonight, is the haystack of derivative film twists and the fatal lack of genuine drama.
Bland, bloodless and bereft of magic, New Line’s corporate sanitisation of Philip Pullman’s exciting, provocative fantasy novel, ‘The Northern Lights’, strips the book of its humanity and soul.
12 comments - Add yours
#1 Stolen idea?
I think someone’s stolen my idea!! See here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/board/thread/90924901
Hehe. No, I’m flattered.
I’m well aware that it was hardly a revolutionary idea - and it’s not like this infringes copyright laws or anything! Hehe… Or does it?
No, it doesn’t.
# November 29, 2007 14:18 by jayuk83
#2 Boycott Movie
The director and the reviews make plain what all fans of the books have long feared - every ounce of the central themes of the book, relating to religion, the soul, and innocence, have been expunged from the movies to make them more palatable to rabid religious wingnuts in the United States. Anyone who loves the books, as I do, should reject the movies. I was so looking forward to the movie, but I will not see it. I beg all you fans of the books to likewise refuse to see this junk. It may be pretty, well visualized, with a great score, but like the Magisterium itself, New Line and Weitz have severed the soul from the story. Pullman must be laughing at the irony, but at least he probably got a couple million dollars to ease his pain.
# November 29, 2007 15:25 by TedNord
#3
What sense does that make, TedNord?
You have absolutely no idea that everything pertaining to religion, the soul, or innocence has been taken out of the movie. I’m sure it’s not as obvious as it was in the book, but I think it’s still in there to a certain degree.
You can’t be certain of anything till you see it in person. Don’t assume, and don’t lead a crusade to boycot a movie based off those assumptions. Frankly, it’s just as ignorant as those who boycot a movie because of the the religious aspects in the movie.
# November 29, 2007 16:23 by Stealthwolf
#4 Yes!
Couldn’t agree more. Thats just plain silly. I love the books dearly. But I’m really looking forward to the movie. yes THE MOVIE. A different beast than the book entirely. Remember at the very worst this film will attract a whole new audience to it’s source material. The books. And that, is a really good thing.
I hope Mr Pullman is indeed laughing, but for the right reasons.
R
# November 29, 2007 16:48 by RoryK
#5 PS Religion isn't gone..
Watch iorek break through the wall of the local magesterium offices in quicktime trailer. Watch in HD. See the walls. The mural is covered in Angels and old renaissance style religious material. It is still there, just not as explicit.
# November 29, 2007 16:50 by RoryK
#6 Watch the film first
The religious tones are still obviously there. As you haven’t seen the film yet, TedNord, I’d advise you don’t take opinions from the rumours that were around before the film was press-released.
# November 29, 2007 18:36 by ArcT
#7
Boycott the film? Tednord, no one is forcing you to go watch the movie. Who do you think you are, the author of the book, the movie police. You do realise that nobody is actually BEGGING you to go see the movie and that you have to pay to see it.
# November 29, 2007 20:11 by fever
#8
Thanks for the reviews :).
# November 29, 2007 20:35 by fever
#9
Times Online is paying that guy to go to the premiere and do a write-up afterwards—HOW MUCH, exactly?
This sort of E!-Entertainment-News-cum-world-weary-sarcasm should be punished by a six-month referral to the Metro section, not rewarded by being called film criticism.
# November 29, 2007 23:21 by Seretur
#10
Reviews are exactly how I expected...Interesting and pointless at the same time.I’m always sceptical toward movie reviews, but I can see a lot of good points from which my expectations can rise...Can’t wait to see the movie on my own, to have my personal review! ;) And I think that everybody should give the movie a chance, always remembering that a movie and a book are fortunately two different, parallel, worlds…
# November 30, 2007 17:34 by Lyrael
#11
What an absolutely lovely way to put it, Lyrael! So perfectly fitting.
# November 30, 2007 20:40 by Phit
#12 I'm a bit worried
It seemed like most of the positive comments were a bit… how should I put this… generic. They all basically said the same thing that is said about every other movie ever made. There was nothing to suggest that the movie was actually good. The only opinions that really seemed to actually rate the movie, were the negative comments. This worries me a lot.
# December 2, 2007 03:28 by watcherswrath