The Golden Compass

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The Golden Compass is an ambitious attempt at bringing to life the first of the books from the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, introducing the young hero Lyra Belacqua as she searches for her abducted friend and missing adventurer uncle in a parallel world populated by giant talking bears, witches, gypsies, mages and warriors where people have spiritual "familiars" called Daemons. While casting outright ignored many of the descriptions of the characters, including the main ones, the film otherwise tries earnestly to be faithful to the very popular book series, despite increasing studio demands and great criticism at the time by fans and secular groups. Like many productions, His Dark Materials suffered under the weight of its own source and trying to please, losing much of the narrative's strengths and inadvertently highlighting its weaknesses. Visually, the movie remains interesting and as a story still has some potency but fans of the book will notice the glaring differences as the tale unfolds.

Erik M.

Continuity mistake: In the last battle scene, Serafina kills one soldier by flying down from the sky and kicking him. In one of the shots, a body of a dead witch is a few meters behind this soldier. In the next shot, the body disappears, only to appear again a minute later in another scene with Serafina at the same place.

More mistakes in The Golden Compass

Lyra Belacqua: Are you gettin' scared, Pan?
Pantalaimon: Scared? A little.
Lyra Belacqua: It's all bigger and scarier than we ever thought.
Pantalaimon: Maybe we shouldn't be doing this.
Lyra Belacqua: But we've got to though, ain't we - go on I mean.

More quotes from The Golden Compass

Trivia: During the scene where Lyra and Mrs. Coulter are in the zeppelin and we see shots over the city, The Swiss Re building, more commonly known as the Gherkin, can be seen. It is in the mid ground to the far right of the screen during one of the first shots of the city.

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More trivia for The Golden Compass

Question: Since Pan can change his shape, what kind of animal is the raccoon-looking form he takes?

Cubs Fan Premium member

Chosen answer: In the books he favored a white ermine. They seem to have changed his color and markings for the film, but the animal species remains the same.

Phixius Premium member

More questions & answers from The Golden Compass

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