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Stardust
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Charlie Cox
Genre:
Fantasy
Run Time: 128 min.
Release Date:
August 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Having met and spoken to Mr. Gaiman about his writings and,
specifically, about this film, I had extremely high hopes for it. For
those not “in-the-know,” Neil Gaiman is the author of the novel
STARDUST, as well as many other award-winning stories.
There’s been a bit of buzz about comparisons between Stardust and
THE PRINCESS BRIDE. And although I can see a few points, Stardust
is really its own animal. This is both good and bad. The good comes from
the fact that it’s original and almost epic in scale. The bad is that it
strikes a few funny chords only to reign itself back into serious
territory where much of its umpf! is lost. The Princess Bride
played off its ridiculous nature so well that you knew nothing was to be
taken too seriously. It never went for the serious angle (much to
watchers’ delight). But Stardust loses quite a bit of its power
by jumping back and forth, as well as having a beginning that lagged.
If you’re looking for an honest retelling of Gaiman’s Stardust
novel, please don’t go and see this. Just as if you enjoyed Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, I wouldn’t
expect that you’d go see BLADE RUNNER and applaud its accuracy to
the novel. That is to say that both mediums have their good points, just
try not to compare them too closely.
What we have here is a smidgin of Neil Gaiman’s story taken out and
revamped for movie audiences. And this is a good thing. Trying to be too
strict to a novel’s plot can stymie creativity when it comes to film
time. Thankfully writer/director Matthew Vaughn realized this.
Although there are peeks into Gaiman’s story, most of it is
Hollywoodized to appeal to a larger audience. The mysterious town of
Wall, the beauty of Star/Yvaine, the evilness that appears when sudden
beauty arrives, etc. These are nice incorporations. Where it fell down a
bit is the overly long opening which was used to describe the goings-on
around Wall, the addition of certain characters/parts in order to add
the “blockbuster” talent (which wasn’t all bad), and the on-again
off-again seriousness that went a bit too far.
The biggest letdown for me was the main protagonist Tristan (Charlie
Cox, CASANOVA).
His role wasn’t the most inspiring. Unfortunately neither was the
beautiful Star/Yvaine (Claire Danes,
THE FAMILY STONE). She played just
well enough to keep me watching her, but that was about it. The
supporting cast held my attention much better. The wily old man who
guards the entrance/exit to Wall (David Kelly,
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE
FACTORY), the wickedly wicked witches — especially Lamia (Michelle
Pfeiffer) who plays the part so over-the-top as to be delicious — and
how could we forget Captain Shakespeare (Robert DeNiro,
THE GOOD
SHEPHERD), the flamboyant captain of a sky-ship who captures lightning
like fish and keeps his cross-dressing secrets securely hidden in his
closet. These supporting characters are what kept me engaged and they
weren’t what the story was about.
Comparisons aside, this is an okay film to check out, but don’t let
anyone fool you. This isn’t The Princess Bride II.
For a better Gaiman adaption, try checking out
MIRRORMASK.
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Image from Stardust
DVD cost: $19.99
Purchase:
BestPrices.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
After initial
conversations between Neil Gaiman and Matthew Vaughn about how to make
the film, Gaiman found that Vaughn was most comfortable with all the
action sequences and adventure bits but needed help with the romance
side of the story. To complement Vaughn's style and better capture all
the aspects of the book, Gaiman introduced him to writer Jane Goldman,
and the two hit it off and wrote the screenplay.
Movie Quote: "You
can't cross the wall. Nobody crosses the wall."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Stardust
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