Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sparkles like stardust, 26 Oct 2007
Fantasy is hard to find in the movies -- for every "Lord of the Rings," there's only a handful of bad sword'n'sorcery tales for kids ("Eragon," "The Seeker"). As for fairy tales, forget it.
But one little fairy tale HAS made its way into theatres -- an enchanting little story loosely based on a Neil Gaiman novel. And "Stardust's" charm is its lack of pretension, and its willingness to be silly, romantic, fantastical, sparkling and most importantly, tongue-in-cheek. And it has pirates too.
A wall separates our world from the world of magic -- and one night, Dunstan Thorn went over it, and had a brief tryst with a beautiful princess, who is imprisoned by a witch. Nine months later, baby Tristan is left on his doorstep.
Nineteen years later, a dying king magically flings a ruby into the sky, and says that the prince who finds it will be the new king. The two remaining princes -- and the ghosts of their dead brothers -- et off to find it. But that ruby dislodged a star, and it plummets to the ground across the Wall -- attracting the attention of three ancient witches, who use the hearts of stars to restore their spent youth.
Still with me?
Tristan (Charlie Cox) also sees the star, and the snotty girl he adores (Sienna Miller) says that she will marry him if he gets her the star before her birthday. Tristan does manage to find and entrap the beautiful star, Yvaine (Claire Danes), and they start off on a magical adventure of air pirates, unicorns, evil witches, and true love.
"Stardust" has pretty much all the requirements for a fantasy and/or fairy tale movie -- magic, love, an evil villain, and lots of odd characters to round out the cast, and flesh out the story. Not much is actually new. But like the original Gaiman tale, the movie winks affectionately at you as the story unfolds.
In fact, the movie only really stumbles when it stops to ruminate on true love and how precious it is, etc. Cute, but boring -- especially since the romantic leanings of the leads are pretty clear. Director Matthew Vaughn really shines when he's focusing on airships, goat-men, and the occasional magical sword-fight with an dead man.
Despite the scattered nature of the plot, Vaughn directs with a smooth, sure hand, and he sprinkles plenty of comic relief through it -- Captain Shakespeare dancing in drag, or the Greek chorus of murdered princes. And the dialogue avoids fantastical pomposity by being just as tongue-in-cheek ("Nothing says "romance" like a kidnapped injured woman!")
Cox makes an excellent wide-eyed, slightly blinkered country boy, who turns from a bumbling suitor to a strong young hero. Danes isn't quite as ethereal as one would expect Yvain to be, but she gives a solid performance, and Miller is perfect as the snotty, shallow Victoria.
But while the younger performers are solid, the veterans are absolutely brilliant. Pfeiffer is hilarious, chilling and pouty as the constantly frustrated witch, and De Niro steals the show as a cuddly, twinkly-eyed gay pirate who pretends to be brutal. And Peter O'Toole and David Kelly have brief but brilliant appearances.
"Stardust" is exactly what the title suggests -- sparkling, funny, wry, and just deep enough to be entertaining. A solid, sweet little fantasy movie.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous fantasy faery tale for all ages, 24 Oct 2007
Neil Gaiman, who wrote Stardust, is a treasure of modern storytelling. This film of his novel is superbly realised and absolutely worth watching. It improves with repeated viewings, in fact.
Gaiman wanted to write an old-fashioned Edwardian fairy-story, full of flying ships and unicorns and evil witches, beautiful maidens and handsome young men coming of age and falling in love. So he crammed all of that and more into the story, and the film absolutely sparkles with the threads of the story and the characters.
It's a two hour film, which might be a bit long for younger children to sit through, and there are a couple of points where the action slows down (when the love affair develops) which kids will find fidgity. However the majority of the movie absolutely romps along, following the young hero on his quest to find a fallen star and bring it (her!) back to impress his girlfriend.
There are also some scream-aloud funny bits. Kids will love the boy-transformed-into-girl moment; adults will crease up at the sight of Robert de Niro doing the can-can. There's a sly wit about the whole film; look out for the bit about the drooping boobs...
Unlike many fantasy films you don't have to sit through endless trudging across hillsides in the rain. The quest is the backbone of the story but the joy of Stardust is the sheer creativity and richness of each scene. You can relax and leave the plot to get on with itself, and sit back and enjoy the superb performances (Michelle Pfeiffer is particularly good as the beautiful-evil old crone) and each sparkling scene.
Definitely worth watching several times, because you'll see much more of the detail with each viewing. If you didn't catch Stardust at the movies then that's a shame, because some of the dazzling quality of the effects will be lost at home. So watch it on the biggest screen you can -- and in HD if you've got it. This is one film that's definitely worth it.
Excellent entertainment for adults; young children might need a break halfway through. Afterwards, it's a film which will leave you feeling happy, uplifted. Not too many of them around, so make the most of it!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely delightful, do see it!, 10 Nov 2007
We loved every minute of this charming fantasy tale. There aren't nearly enough fantasy films around. I'll expand my review later if I remember but for the moment this hurried comment is to urge people to see it if fantasy is their type of movie as I'm sure they won't be disappointed.
The only reason I don't give 5 stars is because I was faintly disappointed by the hero's actor. He's a lovely guy but I would have preferred him just a fraction older and a fraction more knowing and dynamic. On the other hand, I haven't yet read the book and perhaps it's essential he is that young and not too experienced.
Love the concept of The Wall. What fun. A DVD to buy in due course, definitely.
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