I just saw the movie this evening. IT IS E*X*C*E*L*L*E*N*T!
Anyone who complains about the bad guys being parallel to some actual contemporary organization or insitution is saying more about the organization or institution than the movie or books. It is like the Bush White House complaining that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are too much like Bush/Cheney. The characters are not real, but Bush/Cheney are. If any group sees themselves “unfairly protrayed” in The Golden Compass, the problem is theirs, not Pullman’s or the film producers (who have done an outstanding job).
*See this movie
*Talk to your kids about it (What would their daemon be? What would yours be? Why do daemons stop changing? How does this connect to your soul/spirit? How does this compare to a “totem”?)
*Read the book – one librarian t-shirt says, “Never judge a book by its movie”. Read with your kids.
*Christians of every group and cult should see this movie and read this book too. Don’t complain and whimper until you actually know what you are whining about. I bet you will find more of value and less of ridicule than you expect. Comparisons to Narnia are expected, but also to Lord of the Rings, Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, and a whole bunch more. Don’t be afraid.
!!Well Done!!

A post script:
The only danger I see from this movie is the number of people that will want to ride polar bears. Don’t do it! The bears are dangerous. It is only a movie and the bears are (absolutely amazing) CGI.
But, WOW are the bears totally cool, and riding a polar bear would be an unparalleled rush – like riding a whale, an eagle (thanks, Mr Tolkien), a dragon (thanks,Ms McCaffrey and Ms Lackey), a broom (thanks Ms Rowling) or a giant sandworm (thanks, Frank Herbert).

The only criticism I have seen about this movie is that it is about “KILLING GOD.” If there is such a theme in this movie, then it is definitely NOT appropriate for ANYBODY, much less children. Their minds and emotions aren’t developed sufficiently to integrate such an enormous theme.
If anyone out there can refute this analysis, I invite you to write on this blog and tell me the TRUTH. Although I admire the actors in this movie, I wouldn’t WANT to see it for the above-mentioned objection.
So – post here, or forever live in your delusions!

At no point in the movie is there anything about “killing god”. That is a foolish rumor spread by people who HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM! At its worst (and best) it is about exposing hypocracy and poorly thought through strategies for control of people (at the expense of their souls/spirits/daemons). Don’t read the rumors, read the reviews from people who have seen the film and understand what is being shown and said.

I believe that it is a shame, haven’t Jesus proved his love for us over and over again. There is pure evil in this world and lying and telling children that jesus was killed by adam and eve is stupid and the devils work. I pray for your souls and pray that God open’s your eyes to this see the truth.

Ms Griffin
I don’t quite know how your comments relate to this movie or books. I hope you will be open to a new way to think about God, faith, spirituality, and hope. All of these are present either explicitly or indirectly. Pullman definitely deals with evil, though it may be more attractive (as it often is) than we might want to accept.

Hi my name is danielle and i was just wonderin why you call youeself an atheist when in this movie the girl is tryin to kill god and which she does. Me I’m a christain and I already figured it out by hearing and seein it on the news that thats what this movie is based on. Im not one of them fake christains who call them selves christains but behind everyones back they do what is wrong like go against what the holy bible says. I thought and did some research that a true atheist doesnt believe in any kind of god. You must believe in God if you are and which you knwo you are talkin bout god in this movie.
Thanks,
Danielle

If it’s OK to use Narnia to sell Christianity to kids I see no reason why this film can’t sell atheism to kids. Seems one must be a complete hypocrit to think one should be allowed in a free-market system, but not the other.

As this film has been brought into much scrutiny from both sides of the theological fence, I believe that it isn’t quite warranted. The movie might have some references or supposed references, but can’t any movie of our time have some sort of religous reference inserted even if it wasn’t meant to? From what I saw in the movie I could only pinpoint one entity in the movie that might have a religous reference.
I must have a quick preface to my comment: I am a holistic Christian. My belief is that there is only one God. Each and every faith looks to the same ONE GOD with many different methodologies of how to follow this ONE GOD. Every religion is attempting to acquire the same things but will NEVER agree that one methodology will work to attain that state.
With that being said…
The Magisterium (sp) is the entity in the movie that is trying to “protect” the people of their world by not telling them the entire truth and eradicating anything that will disprove what they preach. I can see how this might resemble the Roman Catholics of the past and present. My observation of this would be that there are secrets that the Catholics don’t want publicized for whatever reason. They also tried to eradicate many mediums contradicting what they have to say about faith and theology. Understandably if you want your beliefs to acquired by the masses, then you would do such acts.
Other than this, I DO NOT SEE ANY Christian OR Anti-Christian references that could not be imposed on any other movie fantasy or other.