The Golden Compass (film)

The Golden Compass is a 2007 BritishAmerican fantasyadventure film based on Northern Lights, the first novel in Philip Pullmans trilogy His Dark Materials. Directed by Chris Weitz, it stars Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Tom Courtenay, Christopher Lee, Nicole Kidman and Sam Elliott. The project was announced in February 2002, following the success of recent adaptations of other fantasy epics, but troubles over the script and the selection of a director caused significant delays. At US180 million, it was one of New Line Cinemas most expensive projects ever, and its middling success in the USA contributed to New Lines February 2008 restructuring.

The story takes place in an alternate world dominated by a powerful church called the Magisterium, and where part of the soul resides outside a person as an animal companion called a dmon. Lyra Belacqua, an orphan raised in a college in Oxford, England, and her dmon Pantalaimon witness a Magisterium agent poison her uncles bottle of Tokay. Lyra then warns her uncle, Lord Asriel, who instructs her to remain in hiding. Lyra watches Asriel give a presentation regarding Dust, a particle that the Magisterium has forbidden the mention of. The college gives Asriel a grant to fund a northern expedition.At dinner, Lyra meets Mrs. Coulter, who insists on taking Lyra north as her assistant. Before Lyra leaves, the Master of the college entrusts her with the only remaining alethiometer, a compasslike artifact that reveals the truth. The Magisterium has destroyed all the others. He instructs her to keep it secret, especially from Mrs. Coulter. ........

Source: Wikipedia