how do you parents feel about the movie " The Golden Compass?"

I did go and see it and you are right to be concerned for your children. Although no mention of God or Religion is ever made, there are subtitles that pop up to remind the viewers when something sybolizes God or religion. Furthermore, the main character is not killed in the end in a long, drawn out torture sequence, like in the Passion of Christ. Also, this movie lacked anti-semetic themes that would have been more ideal to draw in a christian population. Its a dangerous movie.

Im glad you told of this. No my kids wouldnt be allowed to see this. We dont invest all our time raising our kids for this to tear down what we teach them. I believe in free will. Not this.

People think there are a lot of inappropriate movies and books that kids shouldn't see. I urge you to read the book or see the movie before you make a judgement. Some people don't want their kids to read or see Harry Potter, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer,Brave New World or Goosebumps. Parents have every right to decide what their children watch or read, no doubt about that, but, don't do it based on what a bunch of fanatics think.

i never see this movie yet..yes, i can hear lots of speculations about this movie..that this movie is not good for children..i think i will need to see and find that this movie is good or not for minors..

Well, yes, although the church seems to be the bad guy in the trilogy, and although that church is depicted very close to the catholic church, I see the series more about growing up and being able to make choices, having the freedom to make choices. I won't go into the fact that one of the characteristics of religion - by man's choice, not God - is making decisions for oeople. The Golden Compass is an interesting Fantasy movie, it's not a guide to religion or lack of - and in my opinion it is well rated at PG 13, mostly because it deals with strong subjects - kids are being kidnapped, and harmed. That alone is a strong theme. Within the age range that it is rated for, I don't see any harm in seeing the movie, even if one wants to include the religion controversy. After all kids will at some point have to hear about medieval church, the inquisition, Galileo.... so in the end the fantasy in the movie turns out not to be any worse than what reality was. In my opinion - and again I am not talking younger children- this movie can still be a positive tool to discuss religion with the kids, raise questions, give them the opportunity to think for themselves about their religious choices. After all it's not by only seeing/reading what is favorable to ones views that one grows and strengthens one's views. It is important to know about negative things that were done in the name of the church as well, and discuss them too. If Good wanted no thinking sheep, He would have stopped with the first couple of lambs, no need to go any further and create us with brain and all. It is possible to view former mistakes within the church without loosing faith in God. That said, and although the series follows more like the adventures of this child Lyra and later a friend from another world, it is true that it culminates 0 in the last book - with the disappearance of god - that apparently is not God but one angel - in the book meaning only creatures that can pass trough parallel worlds. There is nothing in the book that says that those children kill him. He is being carried away by some angels in a bubble. He is old and tired and being attacked by some fantasy warriors. The kids simple break the bubble and he smiles at them and disintegrates. No killing see? If read, watched as many will read or see it, it is no more than a fantasy story. It deeper meanings are looked for they will certainly be found, but which ones and in which way? The values of choice, courage,even friendship and loyalty - although the opposite is also covered - the concept of growing up and being able to make own choices,those are the major points not a fallen angel that makes himself god and rules by oppression. The funny part is that a big majority of kids reading the books or watching the movie will be much more focused on the adventures of Lyra - the girl - than the undercurrents. What one takes from what one reads or watches is different from person to person and can always be a subject for discussion, learning and growing even if perceived as negative. As someone else said in a comment, if a book or anything else will shake someone's faith, then there had to be doubts there somewhere.ee

This is a perfect timing for me to answer this discussion.Yes, I watched the movie today.It is a fantasy movie depicting people that represents the church and some common people in the society that were affected by the controlling of Magistrates. Since in reality, this is a movie, so it doesn't mean it has a correalation with religion.Avery good movie and entertaining. The Magistrates who represents the church should be all good in real life, in the movie, they are the bad ones.The the common people made an uprising to fight them as they kidnapped children and contol them what to do.Yes the term demon is used in the film only to depict the passion, anger and freewill of people(deeply analyzing that the individual's spirit).Wasn't it God endowed us with freewill too? I believe if God is in a human form, he will not like his people just saying yes to everything...that's why we have this "FREEWILL".In the movie, Freewill of the people is supress and all the power comes from magistrates only.If we live in a society like that and FREEDOM is GONE, they might as well take away "CHRISTMAS"!God made us FREE even from sin because of CHRISTMAS(JESUS)!

I haven't seen the movie although I've seen trailers for it and it looks great. Everyone I know who has seen it has loved it. The fact that the book the movie is based on is written by an atheist seems irrelevant to me. I have no idea what religion the authors are of most books I read nor do I care. A couple of questions occur to me in the first instance. What God do the children kill - whose God is it? What is the church that Nicole Kidman represents? If it's the christian God and the christian church then I can see why, as a christian, you don't want your child seeing this movie. If it's a fictitious God (some of us think they all are anyway) and a fictitious church then I don't really see the problem. It's a fantasy isn't it? However it's obviously your decision and you've made it so what anyone else thinks doesn't matter.

I am getting the books for Christmas and can't wait to read them and will be getting the movie when it comes out on DVD eventually (we can't afford to go to the theater anymore). When we do get the movie you better bet me and my kids (7, 6, 5 and 1 1/2) will be curled up on the couch watching it with a big bowl of popcorn. I can't wait and I hope they make the sequels...that is if they are as good as the book, which I doubt they could ever come close (because movies rarely do).

It looks like a good movie to me. I didn't know that it was a book first. You should just keep in mind that if your children have been raised strongly in their beliefs, a movie isn't going to change their thoughts too much.

I would do the adult thing and make my own determination. If your child expresses an interest in seeing it, go and see it without him or her and evaluate it for your self. Also don't forget that your child knows that it is a movie, therefore like most movies, it is fictional. As jimbo said How do you know it is about the Christian "God"? There have been hundreds if not thousands of other "gods" or "deities" that have been worshiped throughout time. And since when did the author's belief become a determining factor in a movie's fantasy appeal? If your child's faith is shaken by a movie there was already doubt.

My sons are all adults, and when I go to a movie or chose to read a book I consider the end result and what the author intended. If the author was an atheist and his intention was to turn the watchers and readers from the Church, he does not just mean the Roman Catholic Church, he intends to turn them from all organized religion and especially Christianity, so if one rents the dvd, or gets the book, one must be able to see that it is just a fantasy and prepare oneself to resist the hidden message. There are two dangers, one that the watcher or reader will start to hate Christianity and there will be a few who will go for persecution (remember the Roman Empire first tolerated Christianity and then went in for persecuting and killing Christians) and there will be parents will decide that fantasy in any form is wrong. Parents who say that they want their kids to watch it are playing a dangerous game unless they sit down and discuss it first. As for the intention of making movies based on the other two books, you have to first see the intention of the media. The media is anti-Christian, not just anti-Roman Catholic and the more people who turn from Christianity or at least look on Christians with a bad light, the better.

I remember watching Fox News one day and there was a Catholic Priest being interviewed about this movie. The Priest didn't have a problem with parents taking their children to see the movie because he said that the movie was totally different then the book. Apparently the director had many changes when writing the script for the movie. The Priest however did say that he wouldn't recommend that parents buy the book series for their children. After my husband viewed this movie we decided that it was safe for our children. My children wasn't even interested in watching this movie all of the way through.

My son attends catholic school. Hes 6 years old and in first grade. His school actually sent a letter home to all parents to inform about this movie. I had heard nothing bad about this movie until than. Yes I seen the previews and all and I think its wrong that the movie looks like a kids action movie. Seem within the last few years though there have been quite a few movies that have raised some eyebrows. and we live in a society of free speech. I personally have nothing against the movie and if my son was older if he wanted to see it I would see nothing wrong with that. If he was older a movie would not deter his faith. But with him being only 6 he still has a hard time sometimes distinguishing things. SO even though this movie is portrayed has a children's flick my son will not be seeing it. It goes against everything we are teaching him.

Hi asgtswife, I just posted a similar discussion about The Golden Compass. Nobody responded.