Rating: PG-13 (sequences of fantasy violence)
Length: 113 minutes

Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

ENGLISH: DTS 6.1 ES
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 2.0

English, Spanish

There's a young girl, a golden compass, good & bad guys, lots of actors with great voices (Elliot, Lee, McKellen), witches, dæmons and large polar bears. And last but not least, kidnappings; I mean that both figuratively and literally. Children are disappearing; evil is afoot and only one small girl with a golden compass can solve the riddle.

A really great and well known cast of actors and some stunning visuals. The lead (a thirteen year old newcomer that is quite proud to be a vegetarian, Richards) carries the movie on her shoulders extremely well considering all the acting she had to do with imaginary objects. Nicole Kidman is lovely as always and plays a different type of role from usual. I can't own enough movies with Eva Green (she can be my witch any day) starring in them and Sam Elliot was the perfect choice for the free spirited cowboy. And, out of curiosity, wasn't there another famous fantasy film that starred both Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee? :-)

The first thirty minutes or so are very confusing with conversations consisting of a lot of imaginary words; no, I did not read the book. Speaking of the book, there's actually three of them so don't expect a true ending to this film and they BETTER come out with the other two!

• Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Chris Weitz
• "The Novel" Featurette
• "The Adaptation" Featurette
• "Oxford" Featurette
• "Finding Lyra Belacqua" Featurette
• "Costumes" Featurette
• "Music" Featurette
• "Production Design" Featurette
• "The Launch" Featurette
• "Armoured Bears" Featurette
• "The Alethiometer" Featurette
• "Dæmons" Featurette
• Dæmons Gallery
• Interactive Alethiometer Gallery
• Production Gallery
• Costume Gallery
• Armored Bear Gallery
• Poster Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers

People that have read the book will probably be able to follow the first quarter of this movie better than I did. This is a fun little film that simply ends too soon. Hopefully it won't take too long before they get busy on the sequel. There was a lot of stink from the religious right concerning this film but I have yet to figure out why.

Kathy Bates - Hester (voice)

[The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), Misery, Primary Colors, The Stand, Titanic]

Jim Carter - Lord John Faa

[Haunted Honeymoon, Rustlers' Rhapsody, Top Secret!]

Tom Courtenay - Farder Coram

[Doctor Zhivago]

Daniel Craig - Lord Asriel

[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider]

Edward de Souza - Second High Councilor

[The Spy Who Loved Me]

Sam Elliott - Lee Scoresby

[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Gettysburg, Tombstone, We Were Soldiers]

Eva Green - Serafina Pekkala

[Casino Royale, The Dreamers, Kingdom of Heaven]

Freddie Highmore - Pantalaimon (voice)

[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland]

Nicole Kidman - Marisa Coulter

[Batman Forever, Cold Mountain, Days of Thunder, Dogville, Eyes Wide Shut, The Interpreter, Moulin Rouge!, The Others]

Christopher Lee - First High Councilor

[Horror of Dracula, LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring/The Two Towers/Return of the King, The Man With the Golden Gun, Satanic Rights of Dracula, Sleepy Hollow, Star Wars Episode II/III, Tale of the Mummy, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Wicker Man (1973)]

Ian McKellen - Iorek Byrnison (voice)

[Apt Pupil, The Da Vinci Code, LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring/The Two Towers/Return of the King, X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand]

Ian McShane - Ragnar Sturlusson (voice)

[Battle of Britain, Death Race]

Dakota Blue Richards - Lyra Belacqua

Kristin Scott Thomas - Stelmaria (voice)

[The English Patient, Gosford Park, The Horse Whisperer, Mission Impossible]

Ben Walker - Roger