[vroycehesterb]

In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization. In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization. In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.

[suckless]

[limikael]

[Binford 6100]

[painge]

more

[kvk]

[links]

[srb123]

Polar bear Iorek Byrnison appears drunk and drinking. here

[weed]

Weapons used in battle scenes include guns, arrows, swords, clubs, chains, hooks, and explosions. Lyra witnesses an attempt to poison her uncle; in a brief scene, children are frightened and grabbed by shadowy thugs. When Lyra escapes Mrs. Coulter, she's chased by several security men; confrontation between rebels and security guards (who have snarling Dobermans) is tense, but the guards back off. Warriors accompanied by snarling wolves shoot at and capture Lord Asriel, leaving him with bloodied face. Two mechanical bugs hunt and attack Lyra and Pan. In a fit of anger, Mrs. Coulter hits her monkey daemon, causing it pain. A violent severing of child and daemon in a laboratory causes visible pain and screams from both subjects. A very intense fight between two polar bears includes some graphic and disturbing violence (one bear whacks off the other's lower jaw, then drops him dead). more

[fluffy]

Minor language includes a few uses of "hell." here

[kaja]

The Golden Compass is heavy on plot. And with so much to cover, the editing between scenes can be choppy and the digital effects uneven. The most wonderful and cunning "effect" in the film is Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards). A 12-year-old girl surrounded by digitized creatures, spires, and sailing ships, Richards' Lyra is a singular delight, at once curious and stubborn, thoughtful and impetuous. Though she faces a series of daunting challenges that take her far from home, she remains brave, moral-minded, and smart -- a little girl much like the little girls who might be watching her on screen. [links]

[andy]

The movie opens in an alternate world version of Oxford, where Lyra lives with her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig). In Lyra's world, everyone has a "daemon," an animal embodiment of his or her personality and soul. While adult daemons are "settled," children's are in flux. Lyra is troubled as her friends disappear before they can mature, apparently kidnapped by "Gobblers." She is further threatened by the Magisterium, a forbidding institution that believes Lyra is the girl foretold in a prophecy about the Golden Compass, a complex device that can answer any question truthfully -- but can only be read instinctively by one person. And, indeed, when Lyra gets the Compass, she can read it, putting her at risk from the Council's primary agent, Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman). Lyra flees the grasp of the Magisterium and embarks on a journey to find her friends with the help of a vast array of charaters, including armored polar bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen). [links]

[jesmurf]

Looking back on it three years later, Weitz says, ”It was a romantic induction into the process.” But maybe he should have considered it an omen. If all you know about New Line’s The Golden Compass are the ads that make it look like another Chronicles of Narnia flick, you don’t know the half of it. Sure, there’s a plucky kid hero, lots of talking animals, and piles of pretty snow. A wardrobe even makes a coy cameo. But this risky $180 million fantasy is worlds away from C.S. Lewis’ fuzzy Christian fairy tale. In fact, this is the anti-Narnia. Compass is adapted from the first in a trilogy of British kids’ novels collectively known as His Dark Materials, which are a brainy and imaginative critique of Christian dogma and ideological tyranny. Literary critics have hailed the award-winning books as masterpieces and put Pullman on a pedestal next to J.R.R. Tolkien. But the defining struggle in trying to convert Compass into a blockbuster franchise has been in figuring out just how smart — and provocative — a film can be in today’s religiously touchy culture. more

[TarotUnlimited]

Oh, Bond, do be serious: This is all a devilish business, according to the Catholic League and various evangelical Christian watchdog groups. They believe Pullman’s books slander their faith, celebrate irresponsible behavior, and promote despairing, soulless atheism. But if they ever get around to seeing Weitz’s glittering F/X extravaganza, they’ll discover his adaptation has exorcised much of Pullman’s subversive spirit, a move that has alarmed the author’s Web-chatty fans. Compass presented a truly tough challenge: launching a big-budget franchise based on a property that only gets darker, stranger, and riskier as it goes. (Did we mention that Lord Asriel wants to kill God?) Early reviews are divided — here’s the link to the EW review — and while no one should ever discount the appeal of talking animals, New Line’s bid for a new Lord of the Rings is hardly a slam dunk. One thing’s for certain: The Golden Compass is proving yet again that while our culture may be filled with images of God, it sure has a devil of a time talking about Him. [links]

[birddump]

Some Christians thought Philip Pullman's novel was blasphemous. But now some of the author's fans may think the film adaptation's not provocative enough. Inside the book's long, perilous road to the screen

[Giovanny]

In July of 2004, Chris Weitz went all the way to the Arctic Circle just to write a movie. The young filmmaker had fatefully accepted the challenge of adapting Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, and since the North Pole was a crucial locale in the book, Weitz thought tapping out the script while communing with a wintry wasteland would be really cool. Putting aside his aversion to snow, ice, and cold weather in general, he set sail from Norway on a boat packed with adventure tourists curious to see polar bears and old whaling stations. On the first day at sea, he plugged in his computer…and the ship’s electricity fried his laptop. He spent the next nine days writing the script by hand.

[ColdHardMetal]

During the fight it seems, at first, that Ragnar, who had already fought Iorek, has the upper hand, but Iorek eventually manages to kill his rival by feigning injury, becoming the new and rightful king. [links]

[canvasprint]

Lyra, still puzzled about her alethiometer, shows it to a gyptian elder, Coram van Texel, and discovers that she is able to decipher the device's puzzling answers, swinging to different symbols around the edges which mean different things. more

[calmsupplements]

At Jordan College in Oxford, Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon, an animal form of the soul that accompanies every human, Pantalaimon are living a wild life, climbing the roofs and throwing mud at the gyptian children. Lyra is an orphan and her only relative is the explorer Lord Asriel who is her uncle. Lyra and Pan witness a Magisterium agent poison Asriel's Tokay before a speech about Dust (a topic which has been forbidden to be mentioned) that he was taking in the Retiring Room of the college for the scholars.

[abitcoinuser]

Lyra and Pan find, in their bedroom, that Marisa's dæmon is trying to take the alethiometer so they run and escape the flat. A number of Gobblers try to chase her, but then Ma Costa, the gyptian, finds her and brings her to John Faa's boat. The King of the Gyptians decide to head to the North and rescue all the kidnapped children. more

[nowhereman]

Iorek takes Lyra to an ice bridge just outside Bolvangar where she quickly crosses. The bridge is thin and couldn't support Iorek, breaking when Lyra crossed it. She enters the station and meets someone who tells her to come in. She says her name is Lizzie Brooks. Lyra comes when the children are having dinner and meets up with Roger. She tells him to get the other children into warm clothes. Lyra snoops around and hears Marisa tell some staff that Asriel has escaped and has set up a lab. The Magisterium soleries are going to kill him for heresy. She hears the scientists at the station talk about the intercisions. [links]

[6174Kauri]

Lyra, however, is caught spying and put into the intercision chamber. Just before she is about to be split, Marisa comes into the room and runs to get Lyra out. Marisa told Lyra about why she had to cut the children, giving her all her beliefs. She tells Lyra that she is her mother and Lyra guesses Asriel is her father. Marisa asks for the alethiometer, and instead Lyra gives her the spy-fly tin.