Read the books - My Daemon is...

a tiger. I friggin' love that.

I read the books last year - great fantasy, if a bit disturbing. I have not seen the movie, but am intrigued. Like the Potter's, you should read the books before seeing the movie(s). The Golden Compass is not exactly material for a young child, with many adult themes.

Cool little app for determining your daemon on the goldencompassmovie.com site.