http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/religious-movies

So, on account of staying in Borders for a few hours, I decided to hang around the magazine racks. I picked up 'The Atlantic' and decided to read about an article on the latest children's fantasy adaption, 'The Golden Compass'.

An excerpt of the article with Philip Pullman interviewed is here:
“I think if everything that is made explicit in the book or everything that is implied clearly in the book or everything that can be understood by a close reading of the book were present in the film, they’d have the biggest hit they’ve ever had in their lives. If they allowed the religious meaning of the book to be fully explicit, it would be a huge hit. Suddenly, they’d have letters of appreciation from people who felt this but never dared say it. They would be the heroes of liberal thought, of freedom of thought … And it would be the greatest pity if that didn’t happen.

“I didn’t put that very well. What I mean is that I want this film to succeed in every possible way. And what I don’t want to do, you see, is talk the other two films out of existence. So I’ll stop there.”

Of course, it's possible that there are people who read too much into this kind of literature which is all the more talked about because it goes to so many levels. It's the same phenomenon with Harry Potter, only except The Golden Compass hasn't garnered the same amount of craze and zeal amongst kids and 'kidults' alike.