'Golden Compass': What's God Got To Do With It?

Compass still would have been a religious conversation starter had it retained the book's Let's-go-kill-the-Authority! climax. But after testing the film, New Line decided that sequence was too bleak. The movie now ends on a happier, more heroic note. ''It was a tough decision,'' Weitz admits. ''[But] it was quite dark material, no pun intended. We wanted to end the first one as up-note as possible.'' He hopes the cut footage will be used as the first act of the would-be sequel, The Subtle Knife, though Forte cautions, ''Whether or not we're going to do that, we don't know.'' [For more on The Subtle Knife see EW's Hollywood Insider blog.]

Pullman endorses the changes that have been made in the name of bringing his literary world to the masses. ''I want this film to be a success,'' says the author, who is now writing a Materials sequel called The Book of Dust. ''If I had insisted that the movie be an exact replica of what was on the page, it would have arrived stone dead.''

Though Christian watchdogs have been barking at Pullman for several years, anti-Pullmanism really didn't go mainstream until a couple of months ago when William Donohue of the Catholic League — which has no official relationship with the Church itself — called for a boycott of the film and began hawking a $5 booklet dissecting the novels. Donohue makes no apologies for making a buck off his protest hype. ''What we do for a living is fight anti-Catholicism,'' he says. ''For $5 a booklet, I think it's the best buy in town.'' When told that Pullman denies pushing an agenda, Donohue says, ''He's lying.''

But some of the opponents of Compass have quieted, partly because they know that religious controversy can help at the box office. ''The last thing I want to do is help New Line sell tickets,'' says Pullman critic Ted Baehr, publisher of movieguide.org. Having now seen the movie, he doesn't think its ''theology by muddled analogy'' will corrupt America's youth, though he recommends that Christian families see Enchanted instead.

NEXT PAGE: ''My God is big enough to defend himself against Philip Pullman. As a Christian, I think his story brings up great points of debate.''