The Golden Compass
New Line Cinema | Release Date: December 7, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
20
Negative:
3
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films. It springs from the same British world of quasi-philosophical magic, but creates more complex villains and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Represents the year's biggest gamble - and it delivers the year's biggest and most ambitious fantasy. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
It’s pure introductory adventure, meant to immerse readers in Pullman’s richly complicated fantasy universe. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
A demanding blend of spectacle, drama and exposition of ideas. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
If Weitz's Golden Compass feels, at times, too crammed with exposition and big set pieces, the film nonetheless works far more successfully than the first Potter pic - the leaden "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - did translating its source material. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Weitz doesn't manage Pullman's feat of being rational and magical simultaneously. But he rapidly and intelligently opens up Pullman's world. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk 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." Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley 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. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames 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. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
At times you feel Weitz flipping the pages and dog-earing wildly, and that's a shame: This is a movie that needs to be lengthy and discursive, the better to duck into the back alleys of its invention. A visionary is required. This director isn't one. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Ultimately satisfying and successful version of the opening volume of the celebrated "His Dark Materials" trilogy. Read full review
60
TimeRichard Corliss
There's something missing, beyond the iconoclastic theology, in this perfectly OK, blandly underwhelming superproduction. The movie lacks an elevating passion, a cohesive vision, a soul. It's as if The Golden Compass has misplaced its artistic compass. Somebody stole its daemon. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
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 full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Golden Compass is a snowbound mystical-whizbang kiddie ride that hovers somewhere between the loopy and the lugubrious. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula 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. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Has many of the virtues of a faithful screen adaptation and many of the predictable flaws. Read full review
50
PremiereDeborah Day
Ultimately fails as a film in its broad strokes and inadequate scene development. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
For all the complicated backstory, weighty themes, action set pieces and fanciful production design, the film is oddly unengaging. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Disappoints with its lack of character development and convoluted storytelling. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Looks magical, seethes with elusive profundities and makes remarkably little sense, though the murkiness makes perfect sense on a shallower level. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
An innocuous, passably entertaining effects extravaganza. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The Golden Compass comes close, and its originality cannot be denied, but it never quite crosses over into your heart. It stops at your eyes. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The Golden Compass is a blatant attempt to duplicate the success of the "Harry Potter" franchise. The only thing missing is richly imagined characters, a comprehensible story line, good acting, and satisfying special effects. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichelle Orange
In drawing and quartering much of the novel's intent, Weitz ends up with a film that feels not just unfinished but undone. Read full review
40
Washington PostStephen 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. Read full review
40
SlateDana Stevens
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 full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Whatever complex or interesting ideas might have been found in the source material have been watered down, skimmed over, mashed into nonsense or simply ignored. Read full review
40
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Not only did those so-called "demons" take the form of animals, but they actually talked! Read full review
40
EmpireOlly Richards
A crushing disappointment for fans and a scuppered opportunity for a cinematic event. That the first book has been so mishandled doesn’t bode well for the (already greenlit) more complicated ones to come. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
Five minutes before The Golden Compass started, I was wondering when it was going to start. Forty minutes into it, I was wondering exactly the same thing. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The final sad joke is this: Weitz took a wonderful story about the danger of severing a soul from its otherwise empty body and did that very thing to his source. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter Travers
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 full review
More From This Movie

51 Critic Reviews

6.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL