Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Premise: A five-foot stone wall on the
English countryside divides a sleepy English town from a magical world
on the other side. After a star falls to earth, characters from our
world and the fantasy world race to the location of the star including
Tristan, (Charlie Cox) a young Englishman who has promised the star to
his crush in exchange for her hand in marriage, a witch (Michelle
Pfeiffer) who wants the star to restore her youth, and a prince (Mark
Strong) who needs the star to claim kingship over the fantasy world.
What Works: Stardust is a
surprisingly good film in its first and third acts. The story uses
familiar fantasy elements like unicorns, witches, princes, and castles
but reinvents enough of it to make the material fresh. A lot of the
fantasy pictures since The
Lord of the Rings have taken themselves far too seriously,
thinking they are much more important than they actually are (see Eragon or Pirates
of the Caribbean: At World’s End). Stardust remembers
to have fun and there is a lot of humor to be had in the film. When
Tristan arrives at the star he finds it is actually a young woman named
Yvaine (Claire Danes). The two begin on a journey back to our world
while being pursued by the witch and the prince. The film paces the
chase and the journey pretty well and the development of the
relationship between Tristan and Yvaine is successfully uses humor and
shared peril to bring them together. Tristan gets to grow as a character
throughout the story and although the film follows Joseph Campbell’s
hero journey unwaveringly, the content allows Tristan to earn his status
as a hero. As Yvaine, Claire Danes brings a lot to the film and to her
character, providing her with dignity and more presence and volition
than the character might have had in the hands of a lesser actress. The
star of the show, however, is Michelle Pfeiffer as witch Lamia. Pfeiffer
steals many of the scenes she is and her character’s vanity and
destructiveness are fun and give the film some much-needed jeopardy.
What Doesn’t: The middle of the film
drags a bit as Charlie and Yvaine board a pirate ship led by Captain
Shakespeare (Robert DeNiro). The captain is a closet homosexual and
although this part of the movie lightens up and gives DeNiro a chance to
play on his tough guy image, the scenes are not well done and the humor
of the film is reduced to stereotypical gay jokes.
Bottom Line: Stardust is a pretty
good fantasy film. The picture is nothing groundbreaking but it is very
entertaining and will be enjoyed by those who liked The
Princess Bride.