15 Worst Movies That Somehow Won Oscars

4. The Golden Compass (2007)

Won For: Best Visual Effects

The chief crime of The Golden Compass is that it made a book series that is actually superior to The Lord Of The Rings and a good deal of the Harry Potter franchise look like garbage. The source material is dark and rich and gloriously complex with a cast of incredible characters, a genius story and action sequences that fed millions of imaginations.

It should have translated perfectly to the big screen, particularly with a lavish budget and a great cast, but American Pie's Chris Weitz instead conspired to make it dull. This is a film starring giant battle polar bears, and it's literally a boring slog. What sort of mishandling goes into such a foul-up?

It absolutely deserves the acknowledgment of its Visual Effects, but it just would have been nice to see some more substance under the bonnet, and we might not have seen the rest of the franchise cast off forever.