10 Bonkers Theories Roger Ebert Had About Famous Movies

10. The Golden Compass Is Better Than Lord Of The Rings And Harry Potter

What Ebert Said

His weirdly positive review of The Golden Compass is a series of odd statements, starting off with insane claims:

"The Golden Compass" is a darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films. It springs from the same British world of quasi-philosophical magic, but creates more complex villains and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging. Teenagers may be absorbed and younger children may be captivated; some kids in between may be a little conflicted, because its implications are murky."

The Reality

While there are lots of fans of the His Dark Materials book series who would have loved nothing more than to see a whole trilogy of success films, pretty much everyone who saw The Golden Compass can safely say it was not good.

It wasn't even a mediocre fantasy film, in all honesty, so the suggestion that it was a "deeper fantasy" than Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter is ludicrous. There were some good ideas in there - but they weren't explored nearly as well as in the books - and the very suggestion that it is in any way "superb" is just bonkers.

It's certainly challenging, but not in any sort of positive way.