Yahoo! Movies has posted the First 5 Minutes of New Line’s fantasy epic The Golden Compass, which opens nationwide in theaters December 7, 2007.

The exclusive video clip, which can be viewed in standard and High Definition formats, introduces Daniel Craig as Lord Azriel and Dakota Blue Richards as his niece Lyra.

The Chris Weitz written and directed film, based on the first book in Philip Pullman‘s His Dark Materials trilogy, also stars Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Sam Elliot, and Ian McKellan.

A few of us got in on a sneak peak viewing in New York last Saturday, and while there’s no doubt the special effects are amazing and the scenery is stunning, I’m still not sure how I feel about the movie. It strays a bit from the book, which is to be expected, but it almost felt like you needed to have read the book in order to understand the movie. I’d love to know what audiences who haven’t read the book think of the film.

There’s a lot of info packed into The Golden Compass, which comes in at just under two hours, and the pacing is fast — almost too fast maybe. It’s definitely a movie that needs more than one viewing and while watching it, I kept thinking “I’m sure I’ll love this movie after I seeing the extended DVD with bonus features.”