Based on the fantasy novel by Phillip Pullman, this epic adventure takes place in an alternative universe where each humans' soul is embodied in a companion animal called a daemon.  Lyra, an orphan who's lived most of her life among the scholars at Oxford, is intrigued when her uncle announces his plans to travel north to investigate the source of some mysterious particles called Dust.  Lyra has little hope of following her uncle until a mysterious woman asks Lyra to travel north as her personal assistant.  All is not as it seems, however, and the disappearance of Lyra's friend Roger sets her on a dizzying adventure.  The movie's PG-13 rating should be taken seriously.  It deals with complex concepts, violence (though largely bloodless) and implied death, children and animals in peril, and an unrelentingly ominous and unsettling mood.