I'll jump right into this by saying that the His Dark Materials trilogy is my favourite collection of books so far in my life. So, naturally, I went into this movie with the scrutiny a fanatic would. But I was also aware of my high standards, so I was willing to settle for a decent adaptation of the book that was pretty well done and enjoyable to watch.

The Golden Compass did not deliver in the slightest, beginning with the childish and rather uninspired American title which apparently had to become global. This part of the trilogy will always be known to me as Northern Lights, and calling the alethiometer by an incorrect name a thousand times will not change that.

I find it puzzling how someone can actually screw up the plot of a critically-acclaimed book so much. Casting, I can understand. The performance of the actors, I can understand. SFX problems, I can understand. All of these things are the pitfalls of making movies. But adaptations are meant to have one thing… more »

I'll jump right into this by saying that the His Dark Materials trilogy is my favourite collection of books so far in my life. So, naturally, I went into this movie with the scrutiny a fanatic would. But I was also aware of my high standards, so I was willing to settle for a decent adaptation of the book that was pretty well done and enjoyable to watch.

The Golden Compass did not deliver in the slightest, beginning with the childish and rather uninspired American title which apparently had to become global. This part of the trilogy will always be known to me as Northern Lights, and calling the alethiometer by an incorrect name a thousand times will not change that.

I find it puzzling how someone can actually screw up the plot of a critically-acclaimed book so much. Casting, I can understand. The performance of the actors, I can understand. SFX problems, I can understand. All of these things are the pitfalls of making movies. But adaptations are meant to have one thing safe: if the book had a great plot, then the movie should have a great plot. But instead, Weitz chooses to treat plot points like pieces of a jigsaw, and the result is that he hasn't put the pieces back in the correct place. Iorek's victory in Svalbard, and the importance of it, is crushed by the feeling the plot seems to give of, "Right, now that that's out of the way, we can get to the other stuff." It feels so tacked on and out of place, an afterthought more than anything. The switching round of Iorek's plot and the Bolvanger plot achieved nothing but providing Weitz's schmaltzy, amateurish ending, where the characters might as well have been floating into a sunset rather than the aurora. The script suffered from this kind of corny dialogue a lot, with nothing being focused on too much and everything moving so quickly so it wouldn't stay in place long enough for you to see the cracks in a scripts riddled with chinks and full-blown holes. Serafina Pekkala's initial entrance is one of the most badly dealt with entrances of all time, and again, not true to the book at all, which is something the movie struggled with. It had an identity crisis: not quite the book, and not quite a movie.

I'm giving it the one star purely for Dakota Blue Richards. At certain times, I was a little unsure of her portrayal as an impossible character to cast, but she had moments of sheer brilliance such as her attitude when tricking "Ragnar" (Good Lord...) and the expression on her face when she destroys the machine in Bolvanger. I can only hope that if the next movie is made, she's given a script truer to the book that she can truly shine with.

An awful adaptation, and such a waste of stunning material. I also didn't appreciate the inflated roles of Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. It was as if their increased presence was to somehow justify the casting of Craig and Kidman, and their extra scenes felt incredibly jarring, just like the entire movie.

This movie is a flop, I completely hated it. I heard so much about it when it was going to the cinema but all the trailers never captured me at all. So I decided to get the books.

Well the books are fantastic. There is sooooo much in them. I would recommend any and everybody to read them.

I understand that the movie would have to be shrunk and different things left out, that's fine as long as the main parts are in there and are correct.

The most annoying part of the movie and a major part of the movie was someone was supposed to die and did not. Don't worry I won't spoil it for you if you have read the book then you will know what I'm on about. This persons death has a major part in where Lyra goes from here.

The story is very disjointed, there are parts that come into it here and there and you are left wondering wtf! Also there is a change of how certain things happen, for dramatic and movie effects that's fine, but they also left out another important part… more »

This movie is a flop, I completely hated it. I heard so much about it when it was going to the cinema but all the trailers never captured me at all. So I decided to get the books.

Well the books are fantastic. There is sooooo much in them. I would recommend any and everybody to read them.

I understand that the movie would have to be shrunk and different things left out, that's fine as long as the main parts are in there and are correct.

The most annoying part of the movie and a major part of the movie was someone was supposed to die and did not. Don't worry I won't spoil it for you if you have read the book then you will know what I'm on about. This persons death has a major part in where Lyra goes from here.

The story is very disjointed, there are parts that come into it here and there and you are left wondering wtf! Also there is a change of how certain things happen, for dramatic and movie effects that's fine, but they also left out another important part at the end of the movie.

As for the characters most I find were ok, some were poorly portrayed, Lyra for me wasn't right there was something missing. Asrial and Miss Coulter were overall fine and well played. But I do agree with another reviewer that Miss Coulter was made too rich, yes she was well off and looks extravagant (not dress wise but overall) but at the same time wasn't overly wealthy.

Overall for me the movie was lacking some of the major parts and some other were just plain wrong. I feel like this was a poor adaptation of a great novel. There could have been more in it.