The Golden Compass film is based on a trilogy novel by Philip Pullman and is directed by Chris Weitz. The leading act is the smart and intelligent looking Dakota Blue Richards who plays 12 year old Lyra, an orphan. In the movie are also Nicole Kidman, Eva green, and Daniel Craig who also do a good job. There has been a lot of talk on whether Philip Pullman’s books promote child atheism or an anti-Catholic sentiment and it seems like the movie was tone down quite a bit. This movie was merely an introductory adventure, meant to immerse viewers in Pullman’s richly complicated fantasy universe. Unfortunately the film was so condensed that it became incoherent to people who did not read the book, which is the great majority.

The story concerns Lyra, an orphan living in a fantastical parallel universe in which a dogmatic theocracy called the Magisterium threatens to dominate the world. When Lyra’s friend is kidnapped, she travels to the far North in an attempt to rescue him and rejoin her uncle.

Even though the blu-ray version has more features than the DVD, we feel it lacked on special features. With such a rich fantasy universe behind it the studio could have done a much better job bringing more information about the story since the movie itself left too much out! Disc one of this two-disc BD set has two main bonus items: a regular audio commentary with director Chris Weitz and a “visually enhanced commentary.” The “enhanced” version puts little picture inserts into the proceedings, picture-in-picture, to spice up presentation and provide more visual information about the filmmaking. Things on disc one conclude with twenty scene selections.

Disc two contains the bulk of the extras, divided into two main sections. A succession of documentaries makes up the first section. These start with “The Novel: Author Philip Pullman and the Consequences of Curiosity,” nineteen minutes with the writer and other filmmakers. Next is “The Adaptation of Writer-Director Chris Weitz,” sixteen minutes on the getting the script right, followed by “Finding Lyra Belacqua: Introducing Dakota Blue Richards,” fifteen minutes on the casting of the young star. Not all content is in HD!

Check out the movie trailer here or purchase it from Amazon here!

Specs

• 2-Disc Set BD

Video

• 1080p/VC-1

Aspect Ratio(s)

• 16×9 widescreen - 2.35:1

Audio

• English DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 7.1 Surround
• English DTS 2.0 Stereo (Supplements only)
• English SDH
• Spanish Subtitles

Supplements

• Theatrical Trailers
• Disc One:
  • Feature film
  • Visually enhanced commentary by director Chris Weitz
• Disc Two:
  • Documentaries:
  • “The Novel”
  • “The Adaptation”
  • “Finding Lyra Belacqua”
  • “Daemons”
  • “The Alethiometer”
  • “Production Design”
  • “Costumes”
  • “Oxford”
  • “Armoured Bears”
  • “Music”
  • “The Launch”
  • Poster gallery
  • Theatrical and teaser trailers
  • Galleries
  • Slipcover
  • Insert of collectible memorabilia

Keep up with us! Subscribe to our RSS feed

Popularity: 14% [?]