The Golden Compass Critic Reviews
Metascore®:
Based upon 14 Critic Reviews- Highest Rated
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Critics (A-Z)
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- Favorite Critics
Disappoints with its lack of character development and convoluted storytelling.Read the full review
A tepid, jumbled Hollywood fable whose final message seems to amount to little more than "Follow your dreams," or worse, "Stay tuned for the sequel."Read the full review
One key missing element: the world in which this story takes place never feels unique. We aren't drawn into it the way we were with Middle Earth or Hogwarts. In fact, with all the airships flying around, there are times when it feels like an extension of Stardust.Read the full review
Looks magical, seethes with elusive profundities and makes remarkably little sense, though the murkiness makes perfect sense on a shallower level.Read the full review
The Golden Compass does manage the job of bringing Pullman's world to the screen. With luck, any future entries will try harder to get the job done right.Read the full review
Ultimately satisfying and successful version of the opening volume of the celebrated "His Dark Materials" trilogy.Read the full review
A "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter," in other words, than "Beowulf."Read the full review
Has many of the virtues of a faithful screen adaptation and many of the predictable flaws.Read the full review
The Golden Compass is a snowbound mystical-whizbang kiddie ride that hovers somewhere between the loopy and the lugubrious.Read the full review
Me, I just think it blows. What does it matter if you spend millions on a movie - love the talking, battling bears! - if the effects are cheesy, the story runs off on tangents and after watching the movie fail utterly to be the next Lord of the Rings, you just want to go home.Read the full review
