Okay, okay. This is my take, in brief, of The Golden Compass.
My brief synopsis: Lyra commences a wild journey after a series of events that lead her into the middle of a conspiracy by the government of her world to control the minds of the public from a young age. It's more complicated than that, but if I tell you any specifics, it will just become confusing.
My basic disclaimer is: if you read the book you are going to enjoy this movie a lot more simply because you will have a head start on becoming acquainted with the world of the film. There are a lot of things to wrap your head around, like deamons and dust and gobblers. What you expect to be good or bad, evil or innocent goes through a bit of redefinition. It’s tough to take it all in and might require that you either pick up the book or just watch the movie a second time.
If you're into Metaphysics, Particle Theory, Theology, Mythology, and High Fantasy, you're going to find this film interesting. It is a movie about children, but I have a hard time calling it a kid’s movie. There are a lot of concepts and issues that are explained in basic enough terms, but really have some high level theory behind them. Not to mention that any time you deal with adult issues such as science and government conspiracy, things can get a bit scary or just out of reach of a kid’s brain.
I enjoyed the world of the film. The characters were fantastic, especially since so many of them required constant animation (I think the price tag on this film was $180 million?). I loved watching the polar bears fight and run through the snow. It was just fun to watch. The girl who plays Lyra was amazing. All of the kids in the movie did really good jobs actually. I was annoyed by any childish humor and simplification, which also makes me think this movie isn’t for kids. The story line was captivating and moved at a good pace. I am extremely excited to watch it again and I can’t wait for the second film to come out.
Overall my impression was that something like The Chronicles Narnia is for Kids, but The Golden Compass seems to be more for adults.