Chris Weitz's adaptation of Phillip Pullman's the Golden Compass is the first film in what will likely be a box office smash of a saga along the lines of the Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter films. The first films tells the story of Lyra Belaqua (newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), a young orphan who lives in a universe parallel to our own, a world where peoples' souls live outside their bodies in the form of daemons (spirit beings in the form of animals). In Lyra's world, citizens are ruled by the authoritarian fist of the Magisterium, a dark-ages Catholicism of a religion who seeks to keep secret the existence of the mysterious "dust". When Lyra's uncle Asriel (Daniel Craig) discovers the existence of Dust and its possible ability to bridge the gap to other worlds, the Magisterium sees this as a way to gain control over other worlds than just their own. Lyra, of course, is a special child; there is a prophecy spoken of by the Northern Witches, and some believe Lyra is the child of the prophecy. Her quest is to save her friends from a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers, who kidnap children. Along the way she comes into possession of the Golden Alethiometer, a device for divining the true answer to any question, and of course, this is a device the Magisterium wants to get their hands on. In her quest, Lyra is helped and harmed by characters like the deceitful Ms. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), a woman who is more than meets the eye, the airship pilot Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliot), ancient northern witch Serafina (Eva Green), and a disgraced polar bear Iorek Byrnison (Ian McKellen).

The Golden Compass is a mostly entertaining but far from great movie; it reaches but lands somewhere beneath great fantasy epics like the Lord of the Rings and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
The plot is interesting enough, and the film contains many any interesting concepts (like daemons and the Magisterium), but ultimately disjointed storytelling leaves most of these concepts unexplored, and Lyra's world is such an odd mishmash of mythology that it sometimes lacks believability. Despite great acting (especially from newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), characters are given little depth and many seem to get lost with little or contrived relevance to the story.
From a visual standpoint, the film looks simply okay. Some effects are great, like the "dust" effects during kills, but the character cgi on some of the daemons and animals seems dated and cartoonish.
The movie gets awesome while it is focused on the ice bears, and remains awesome pretty much until it stops focusing on them. Ultimately, The Golden Compass is an okay movie with a few really neat elements, but not enough to make a complete film work. I'll reserve final judgment until the trilogy is complete.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older