Stardust
DIR: Matthew Vaughn • WRI: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn • PROD: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Michael Dreyer, Neil Gaiman, Matthew Vaughn. • DOP: Ben Davis • ED: Jon Harris • DES: Gavin Bocquet • CAST: Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Henry Cavill, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, Mark Strong, Jason Flemyng, Mark Heap, Rupert Everett, David Walliams, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Sarah Alexander, Joanna Scanlan, Adam Buxton, Mark Williams, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais.

Stardust is a classical fairy tale with some flourishes of originality. The plot has the twists of a typical romantic comedy with a few dabs of magic and adventure. A shop boy, Tristan (Charlie Cox), crosses into a magical realm to bring a fallen star back for his girlfriend, Victoria (Sienna Miller). Turns out, the fallen star is Claire Danes. The quest to get the star, named Yvaine, back to Victoria before she marries someone else is the drive of the film. That is, until Tristan falls in love with his fallen star. This structure is well worn, but it works for the film. During Tristan and Yvaine’s journey across the kingdom, colorful characters come out of the woodwork. Wicked witches and treacherous princes are also after Yvaine, both with nefarious purposes. These characters are delightfully drawn and played. The head witch, Lamia, is played by Michelle Pfeiffer and the lead prince, Septimus, by Mark Strong. Tristan and Yvaine also meet a helping hand in the form of the pirate Captain Shakespeare, in an entirely unexpected supporting role by Robert De Niro. The interaction between these supporting characters comprises some of the most compelling sequences in the film, the characters making one forgive Stardust its predictability.  

All in all, it’s high-grade family entertainment with more brains and originality than the advertisements would lead one to believe. Please ignore the abysmal marketing campaign. The original trailer plays up the film’s CGI magic and admits the film’s pandering (bandwagoneering, one might say) to the recent success of the fantasy film genre. For instance, a voice over proudly states, ‘You’ve seen wicked witches, flying pirates, etc.’ practically namedropping the film’s (imagined) heavyweight contemporaries, the Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean film franchises. Truly Stardust uses a different storytelling mode than these two; instead of taking classical magical characters and using them in a new story structure, Stardust uses a not-so-new story structure and focuses mainly on creating some very memorable, original magical characters.  
 
At least the UK tagline hits closer to the mark: ‘A fairy tale that won’t behave.’ Well, fairy tales never behaved in the first place. They were violent. They used scare tactics to keep kids out of the forest and other dark places. Grimm’s tales were just plain grim. Despite Stardust’s lightheartedness, it retains a dark humor that stays true to its fairy tale roots. Take for instance the wicked witches, slicing open animals to divine the future from the patterns of their entrails, or the treacherous princes, killing each other for the throne. The film succeeds here in making some very dark subjects laughable. Even children can suppress squeamishness and get some laughs out of these bits. Consider taking them along.
 
If you’ve seen one fairy tale, you’ve seen them all. But in Stardust, writer/director Michael Vaughn has created a world that is original and still easy to believe, watch, and digest, making a magical kingdom feel like home for a few hours. For such a feeling to be conjured, it is remarkable there’s not more exposition. This is truly a strongpoint of the film; while some fantasies create their world through a tedious back-story or surreal setting; Vaughn creates his fantasy world through the characters that inhabit it. Though the plot seems predictable at times, the originality is very much character driven. For old-fashioned cinematic escapism, see Stardust.  

Benjamin H DeVries
(Read biog here)

Rated PG (see IFCO website for details)
Stardust is released on 19th October 2007
Stardust – Official website