History YMMV / TheGoldenCompass

** A strange case. While the movie is generally considered SoOkayItsAverage at best, once word got out about the sheer amount of ExecutiveMeddling, and how much the final film got butchered in the edit, people pointed to several aspects - the cast, the production design, some intact scenes - that indicated there was a good movie in there somewhere. In the late 2000s there was even a petition to get a director's cut released to see the movie Chris Weitz had intended to make. A former crew member who worked on the film and saw the original cut confirmed it was far superior (seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWM3XrnlNTU here]] under 'Luke Allen').
** When the trilogy was later remade as a [[Series/HisDarkMaterials television series]], some still compared a few elements favorably to this film; notably the actors for Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel and Lee Scoresby, as well as the overall look and visual effects. Even Philip Pullman was reluctant to completely disown the film.

* NeverLiveItDown: Chris Weitz claiming that the anti-religious aspects of the story would be toned down or used euphemistically. This caused plenty of fans to turn their back on the film before even seeing it. Several reviewers noted that even despite just saying "Magisterium" instead of "church", the visuals and symbolism [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything made it very obvious what the parallel was]].

** New Line tried to avoid this at the start by announcing that the criticism of religion would be completely neutered, but this, as states above, only ended up [[AudienceAlienatingPremise pleasing no one]]. The religious right thought it still wasn't enough, and the fans were left wondering why they would adapt such a controversial book series in the first place if they were so worried about this. As with ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'' released the year prior, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before its release due its perceived anti-Christian themes. Yet unlike ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'', the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).
** The story of the sheer amount of ExecutiveMeddling and editing and re-cutting to make the movie more marketable is likewise more infamous than the film itself. As the film's failure (largely due to said meddling!) destroyed New Line Cinema, it's often used as a cautionary tale on studio interference. Notably George RR Martin officially swore off allowing ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' to be adapted for film after this one's failure - resulting in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' a few years later.

** Creator/SamElliot as Lee Scoresby. Even though the ''Series/HisDarkMaterials'' series received a more positive reception, a lot of fans still insisted they preferred him as Scoresby.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Critical and audience consensus seems to be that, by removing or toning down all the books' controversial elements, you're left with a pretty bog-standard fantasy film with nothing to make it stand out among the glut of them that were released in the wake of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. However, the cast and production values were generally considered very spot-on even by Pullman himself, which compensates for a bit.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The film probably would have been able to live down the swapping around of the Bolvangar and Svalbard sequences for the sake of pacing. But the complete removal of the ending was met with an uproar.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The film adaptation of the first book of ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy was marketed to children, and is considered a family film. But despite the Disneyfication process that suffered the adaptation (like removing most of the [[AuthorFilibuster hardcore atheist rants]]), it still had lot of dark elements, like a very violent polar bear fight, people being shot, lots of killings and many other things... such as the [[SarcasmMode extremely heartwarming and uplifting]] ending scene which was left off the theatrical release.

** It got to the point that even when there was a [[Series/HisDarkMaterials rebooted TV series]], people still compared some elements favorably to this film; notably the actors for Mrs Coulter, Lord Azriel and Lee Scoresby, as well as the overall look and visual effects. Even Philip Pullman was reluctant to completely disown the film.

** New Line tried to avoid this at the start by announcing that the criticism of religion would be completely neutered, but this, as said above, only ended up [[AudienceAlienatingPremise pleasing no one]]. The religious right thought it still wasn't enough, and the fans were left wondering why they would adapt such a controversial book series in the first place if they were so worried about this. As with ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'' released the year previous, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before its release due its perceived anti-Christian themes. Yet unlike ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'', the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).

** Creator/SamElliot as Lee Scoresby. Even when the ''Series/HisDarkMaterials'' series was received better, a lot of fans still insisted they preferred him as Scoresby.

* CriticalBacklash: A strange case. While the movie is generally considered SoOkayItsAverage at best, once word got out about the sheer amount of ExecutiveMeddling, and how much the final film got butchered in the edit, people pointed to several aspects - the cast, the production design, some intact scenes - that indicated there was a good movie in there somewhere. In the late 2000s there was even a petition to get a director's cut released to see the movie Chris Weitz had intended to make.

* OvershadowedByControversy: New Line tried to avoid this at the start by announcing that the criticism of religion would be completely neutered, but this, as said above, only ended up [[AudienceAlienatingPremise pleasing no one]]. The religious right thought it still wasn't enough, and the fans were left wondering why they would adapt such a controversial book series in the first place if they were so worried about this. As with ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'' released the year previous, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before its release due its perceived anti-Christian themes. Yet unlike ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'', the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Say what you will about the film, but there's no denying that it has a lot of truly spectacular visuals, particularly the airships. It even won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, beating out ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' (which many people expected would get the award).

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/DanielCraig as Lord Asriel. A previous Film/JamesBond actor played Asriel in a theatre play, Creator/TimothyDalton.

* OffendingTheCreatorsOwn: Creator/NicoleKidman is a devout Catholic and claims she wouldn't have made the film had she interpreted the material as anti-theist. She almost did turn the part down initially, but only because she wasn't originally in the mindset to explore a complex character like Mrs. Coulter, and was interested in lighter fare at the time. She changed her mind after Philip Pullman personally asked her to accept the role.
* OvershadowedByControversy: New Line tried to avoid this at the start by announcing that the criticism of religion would be completely neutered, but this only ended up [[AudienceAlienatingPremise pleasing no one]]. The religious right thought it still wasn't enough, and the fans were left wondering why they would adapt such a controversial book series in the first place if they were so worried about this. As with ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'' released the year previous, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before its release due its perceived anti-Christian themes. Yet unlike ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'', the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).

* SoOkayItsAverage: Critical and audience consensus seems to be that, by removing or toning down all the books' controversial elements, you're left with a pretty bog-standard fantasy film with nothing to make it stand out among the glut of them that were released in the wake of The Lord of the Rings.

* SignatureScene: The bear fight, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath particularly the ending]]. People went in expecting Lord of the Rings-lite, and then all of a sudden "holy crap, that bear just bitchslapped another bear's ''jaw clean off''".

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: One of the largest cases of this along with the like of ''Film/WarCraft''. Its overseas take was more than four times what it made in the US. Unfortunately, New Line sold the overseas rights cheap.

* SignatureScene: The bear fight, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath particularly the ending]]. People went in expecting Lord of the Rings-lite, and then all of a sudden a bear just bitchslapped another bear's ''jaw clean off''.

* OffendingTheCreatorsOwn: Creator/NicoleKidman is a devout Catholic and has gone on to say that if the movie had the same anti-theist material as the book, she wouldn't have made the film. It's unknown if she had actually read the ''His Dark Materials'' books, or at least heard of them, before signing on.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Not only did the game have common problems with licensed games, it wound up serving as developer Creator/ShinyEntertainment's final game before they merged with The Collective and became Double Helix Games.
** Despite these issues, some admire the developers for arguably having a more loyal grasp of the source material than the film executives. Several incidents from the novel omitted from the film were incorporated almost word-for-word, and the game notably follows the original sequence of events, avoiding the film's subsequent restructuring. To date, playing the game is the only way to view some of the cut footage. Though clunky execution and less-than-stellar graphics mar the overall experience for most gamers, it can be appreciated as a sincere attempt from a story standpoint.

* EvilIsSexy: Mrs. Coulter, of course.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Averted. As with ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'' released the year previous, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before its release due its perceived anti-Christian themes. Yet unlike ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'', the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).
** It didn't help that New Line announced from the start that the criticism of religion would be completely neutered, which ended up [[AudienceAlienatingPremise pleasing no one]]. The religious right thought it still wasn't enough, and the fans were left wondering why they would adapt such a controversial book series in the first place if they were so worried about this.

* OffendingTheCreatorsOwn: Creator/NicoleKidman is a devout Catholic and has gone on to say that if the movie had the the same pro-theist material as the book, she wouldn't have made the film. It's unknown if she had actually read the ''His Dark Materials'' books, or at least heard of them, before signing on.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The changes New Line made in order to avoid the controversy from the novels included changing the villainous organization, the Magisterium, from a clear parallel of the Catholic Church to a more generic EvilEmpire. This ended up pleasing no one: the people who were complaining in the first place were not the sort to back down over a slight story change, and the fans of the series were outraged at such a capitulation and wondered why the studio had bothered getting the rights to such a controversial series if they weren't prepared to go all the way with it.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The changes New Line made in order to avoid the controversy from the novels included changing the villainous organization, the Magisterium, from a clear parallel of the church to a more generic EvilEmpire. This ended up pleasing no one: the people who were complaining in the first place were not the sort to back down over a slight story change, and the fans of the series were outraged at such a capitulation and wondered why the studio had bothered getting the rights to such a controversial series if they weren't prepared to go all the way with it.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: One of the largest cases of this. Its overseas take was more than four times what it made in the US. Unfortunately, New Line sold the overseas rights cheap.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The changes New Line made in order to avoid the controversy from the novels included changing the villainous organization, the Magisterium, from a clear parallel of the church to a more generic EvilEmpire. This ended up pleasing no one: the people who were complaining in the first place were not the sort to back down over a slight story change, and the fans of the series were outraged at such a capitulation and wondered why the studio had bothered getting the rights to such a controversial series if they weren't prepared to go all the way with it.

* AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack includes a gorgeous original song from Music/KateBush. There's also "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjT31RrrP-4 Ragnar Sturlusson]]".

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: When Iorek [[spoiler:punches the Panserbjorne king's jaw right off his face]] and you could hear the whole audience go Oh Snap!
** Very [[{{Pun}} Oh Snap]] since you [[spoiler:get that sound when half his face flies off]].
** When Lyra [[spoiler:sneakily gives Mrs. Coulter a tin holding a mechanical bug set to shoot someone up with knock-out drugs. Mrs. Coulter thinks that it holds the alethiometer. Lyra then goes on to blow up the intercision machine, evacuate the children being held prisoner, and spit at the big scary guards.]] Nice.

** It didn't help that New Line announced from the start that the criticism of religion would be completely neutered, which ended up pleasing no one. The religious right thought it still wasn't enough, and the fans were left wondering why they would adapt such a controversial book series in the first place if they were so worried about this.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The film adaptation of the first book of Literature/HisDarkMaterials trilogy was marketed to children, and is considered a family film. But despite the Disneyfication process that suffered the adaptation (like removing most of the [[AuthorFilibuster hardcore atheist rants]]), it still had lot of dark elements, like a very violent polar bear fight, people being shot, lots of killings and many other things... Such as the [[SarcasmMode extremely heartwarming and uplifting]] ending scene which was left off the theatrical release.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Not only did the game have common problems with licensed games, it wound up serving as developer ShinyEntertainment's final game before they merged with The Collective and became Double Helix Games.

* AwardSnub: The film itself did not get this. However, most people, including those ''within'' Hollywood, feel that this took the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects from [[{{Film/Transformers}} more]] [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd deserving films]].

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: When Iorek [[spoiler: punches the Panserbjorne king's jaw right off his face]] and you could hear the whole audience go Oh Snap!
** Very [[{{Pun}} Oh Snap]] since you [[spoiler: get that sound when half his face flies off]].

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Averted. As with TheDaVinciCode released the year previous, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before its release due its perceived anti-Christian themes. Yet unlike TheDaVinciCode, the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).

* AwardSnub: The film itself did not get this. However, most people, including those ''within'' Hollywood, feel that this took the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects from [[{{Film/Transformers}} more]] [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean deserving films]].

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Averted. As with TheDaVinciCode released the year previous, the movie attracted a large amount of controversy in the US before it's release due its perceived anti-christian themes. Yet unlike TheDaVinciCode, the film ended up doing poorly (at least in the US).