40
In drawing and quartering much of the novel's intent, Weitz ends up with a film that feels not just unfinished but undone.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
63
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
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.
58
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.
67
Austin Chronicle by Kimberley Jones
There are significant stretches of talky tedium, more than a few “huh” moments for neophytes – especially whenever anyone starts nattering on about Dust with a capital D – and the ending plays abruptly, but there’s plenty here to hang a franchise on.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
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."
50
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The Golden Compass is a snowbound mystical-whizbang kiddie ride that hovers somewhere between the loopy and the lugubrious.
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Paula Nechak
The film is dominated by computer-generated effects and they're most of its problem -- they don't give us anything to emotionally attach to or invest in.
40
Washington Post by Stephen Hunter
The movie simply delivers too many colorfuls for its own good, none of whom establish a true emotional identity, and thus it isn't moving, it's busy. Busy, busy, busy.
50
Impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure.