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The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] [2007] | ![The Golden Compass [Blu-ray] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51I4Sv3%2BIAL._SL500_.jpg)
| Actors: Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Ben Walker, Daniel Craig, Clare Higgins
Studio: Entertainment in Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £29.99
Buy New: £16.98
You Save: £13.01 (43%)
New (6) Used (2) from £15.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 2190
Format: Box Set, Pal
Rating: Parental Guidance
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 109
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 5.4 x 0.7
EAN: 5017239150838
ASIN: B0013MYNYS
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: April 28, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new and factory sealed! - Brand New. Despatched same day if payment is received before 3pm. Fast delivery from the UK. International delivery is available. A trusted long established Amazon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Movie: 2/5 Picture Quality: 3~4/5 Sound Quality: 4/5 Extras: 4/5 August 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Version: U.S.A / Region A
VC-1 BD-50
Running time: 1:53:17
Disc size: 48,426,421,480 bytes
Movie size: 25,958,633,472 bytes
Average Video Bit Rate: 22.63 Mbps
DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 24-bit
(BonusView) PiP Secondary Encode
VC-1
Movie size: 21,609,013,248
DTS 5.1 1509Kbps 24-bit
Contains moderate to heavy application of Digital Video Noise Reduction (DNR)
 The names were changed to protect the innocent August 24, 2008
Come to think if it the whole story is about protecting the innocent.
Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) was raised relatively unsupervised which lead to a wild child hood of mock-wars and mischievousness. An excellent liar who saves her from many situations, she may someday find her assets are liabilities. A chance visit by her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), will change her life for ever.
Well movies can not be the book and many times for brevity speeches are cut and locations are rearranged (from a 400 page book to a 110 page script.) But you have to draw the line some where. Unfortunately this is one of those times where they left the action in and changed the story form a multifaceted mystery to a black and white good guy vs. bad guy. We may as well have been watching Saturday afternoon cowboys with black and white hats. Some of the facets were skillfully woven into the non-verbal part of the film with the hope that you read the book and know what is happening. Still the focus switched from a coming of age story to free the slaves and what not. And what is with introducing a bad guy from the next installment to an earlier scene at Jordan collage that masking the turmoil of conciseness at the college?
I do agree that the movie needed to stop short of the cliffhanger end of the book. Let us see what happens when Lyra brings her father what he needs.
On the plus side, the costumes and props were excellent. The CGI did not overwhelm the story. Daemons knew their place. The music matched the scenes and did not overwhelm the dialog. They did a great job of choosing the actors. We can hope they will be around for "The Subtle Knife" (2009)." Nicole Kidman made a perfect Mrs. Coulter and the added scene where she slaps her monkey give hope to becoming more complex character. The voice of Iorek Byrnison (name changed) is Ian McKellen of "The Da Vinci Code" fame.
Well with any luck things may straighten out by the next installment.
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The Blu-ray comes with a bonus disk that has more footage on it than the movie its self. Watching this dark material and re-watching the film may give more insight to the story.
Even worse then the narnia spoof June 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The trailer looked great and I had high hopes for this movie. Especially after seeing stardust. But this is a hopeless childish movie, produced for another braindead generation that thinks over the top means big bucks.
Too bad, they got a good cast, great sets but really poor directing. And it is missing the sense of fun and wit Stardust had so much of. Absolutely no joy to watch.
A quality HD transfer, shame about the movie June 18, 2008
The high definition transfer to this Blu-ray disc is excellent: rich saturated colours and awesome levels of detail. Sound quality is equally good and although I don't have the ability to play the uncompressed DTS HD soundtrack the dynamic rangeis apparent even in standard stereo. In this respect it's one of the best Blu-ray discs I've seen so far.
That was the good news (and reason for the 3 stars); if only the conversion of book to movie had been even remotely as good. The special effects are very good and Lyra's Oxford is well realised; Mrs Coulter is also subtly played by the excellent Nicole Kidman and...unfortunately that's about as far as I can go with compliments.
The strengths of the book(s) are Philip Pullman's expert story-telling, allied to a complex - but accessible - plot and wonderful characters.
Of course condensing everything from the book to a 2 hour film would be impossible but what we are presented with is a series of action sequences linked by ham-fisted exposition. For example, the episode with Billy Costa (who has merged characters with Tony Macarios), once found separated from his Ratter, should emphasise the relationship between human and daemon and build the requisite tension to what is happening at Bolvangar but the opportunity is wasted. Then there is the pointless re-naming of Iofur Raknison to 'Ragnar' (one can just imagine the Focus Group brainstorming a generic scandinavian name: "Ooh I know, how about Ernest Borgnine's name in The Vikings!") and the weakening of Iorek Byrnison (why not rename him too: Erik the Ice Bear, anyone?) by having him (1) expelled from Svalbard as a coward and (2) almost killed and only just saved by Lee Scoresby. Iorek's character is supposed to be the practically indestructible rock that underpins Lyra's (and, later, Will's) resolve for what follows. Those are just 2 examples of many.
The removal of the true ending of the book from the film and the general watering down of the religious undertone sums up what many fans of the book feared would happen: Hollywood has chickened out (again). The bar for intelligent fantasy book transfers to film has been raised by Peter Jackson, and this movie falls woefully short of that level.
The BBC Cover to Cover talking book, read by Philip Pullman with a cast providing the dialogue, is vastly superior to the BBC Radio dramatisation (I've got both) but even the latter is better than the film. If you haven't read the books, I encourage you to do so - the film is passable in a Dark Crystal/Hawk the Slayer action-fantasy genre but the books have so much more depth.
A passable adaptation of an excellent book June 5, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is certainly a beautiful looking movie, and looks wonderful on blu-ray, no doubts there. However as an adaptation of Philip Pullman's excellent novel it falls rather short. Much of the commentary of the terrible evils of religion and their attacks on freedom, science, and knowledge, and specifically the catholic church have been removed or dulled hugely, changing the story from a multi faceted and complex tale into a simple adventure yarn.
Also, and this is particularly agregious, the final chapter was completely omitted, robbing the story of any closure at all, and given how this performed in the US box office, thanks to religious nut cases running a smear campaign against it I doubt the two sequels will ever get made.
My advice - read the books instead.
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