That about sums it up for me as well. It was a cute movie. Nothing stupendous, but decent.

Claire Danes was lovely.


***

8/10 -> B

I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman's work. But quite frankly I'm not sure if I'd ever do a movie based on any of his books. They're just hard to translate to screen. The cast and the crew gave their best and they were just a hair away from getting the formula right.

The look of the movie is perfect. The cast is great for the most part (the bland Claire Danes is the only one that doesn't leave a good taste, but luckily most of the time she's upstaged by other actors, so she didn't manage to ruin the movie by herself). But they fell on the biggest challange - the story itself. They didn't fail miserably, it's just that the first hour is a bit iffy. It could've been perfect. This way it isn't.

The champion of whacked fantasy movies is still The Princess Bride.

The Princess Bride completely hacked up the book version as well. A movie is comparable to a 60 or so page novella, so a whole lot of stuff always gets thrown out. I think this movie benefits from not knowing what is going to happen, I had no idea what the plot was when I saw it other than something about a falling star.

I thought that was the best part. A rare fantasy movie that isn't trying too hard.

To each his own.

I loved it! Easily the most enjoyable movie of last year. The actors all do a great job, very charming. My only complaint would be that there wasn't enough time with Tristan and Yvaine alone. A-

Well, I saw this film last night. Overall, I would say it was cute, and good fun. I certainly enjoyed it and thought the casting was on. De Niro is especially funny, and Cox was cute as the lead because he wasn't your standard 'hot' lead. Danes is always sweet, and rehashes her Romeo + Juliet self to great effect.

I did, however, have a few problems with the movie. Some of the posters who recommended it to me comapred it to Princess Bride, and I will use that comparison as a jumping of point. First, I don't love Princess Bride, so I enjoyed Stardust equally, but in a different way. The one thing Bride had going for it that Stardust did not was Montoya/Fezzik/Vizzini. These are men who were just doing there own thing, and were neither 'good' nor 'bad,' but rather self-serving. That element was missing from stardust where the prince and witches are a bit too 'evil' and Tristan/Star/Tristan's Mother, are too 'good.' About the most ambiguous chararacter there was Captain Shakespeare. I always think that a really clear deliniation between 'good,' and 'evil' makes for a less engaging movie.

I also couldn't stand the CGI vistas. Now, people who recommended it to me knew I was looking for landscapes in particular; this was most likely because I was feeling claustraphobic. I just can't get into them, and mourn the loss of some good old fashioned shots of a couple mountains. That being said, the cgi wasn't overkill. For the most part, the movie was shot in a standard looking area of woods, and that was great. I just wish that Vaughn had, you know, shot some footage in the white mountains of New Hampshire and then just inserted it into those 'sweeping vistas' shots. I'm thinking specifically of when Pfeiffer first sets out with her goats. If you already have a decent movie running, why not go the extra mile?

Overall, I found Stardust to be quite entertaining and great fun. Predictable but never-the-less quite enjoyable along the way. In that sense, I felt like Tristan. The quest becomes a joy, the process is half the fun. I know it sounds like I complained quite a bit, but the complaints are fairly minor in the scheme of my viewing experience.

I would give this movie a solid B/B+

A


I didn't even know that I still haven't written the review on what ended up being one of my absolute favorite films in 2007. Many films in recent times tried to jump on the fantasy bandwagon, but very few actually succeeded. Stardust never tries to be complex, epic or serious. It's just lighthearted, exciting fun at its very best and I was simply enchanted by it from the very start till its finish.

The movie just sparkles with energy, exuberance and inventiveness. The whole fairy tale set-up is great here with some very nice touches of comedy added. I must say that while I have never disliked Claire Danes, I never was a particularly big fan of her either...until this film. I loved her in the role of Yvaine. She was charming, witty and just so loveable. It's too bad that Charlie Cox' protagonist paled so much next to her. The next I should mention here would be the effervescent Michelle Pfeiffer who plays her role well over-the-top, just it should be in a movie like this. With Stardust and Hairspray she gave us some really fun villains in 2007. It's really too bad she didn't ger awards recognition for either of those films as I thought she delivered the best acting job in each of them. Robert De Niro plays a whole lot against the type here as Captain Shakespeare and I loved his part as well. Also the smaller parts are well-cast and played: Rupert Everett is pretty funny, Sienna Miller plays against the type (usually, you'd expect her to be the lead girl in something like this), Jason Flemyng hits the right notes as the despicable Primus and so on. It's a shame, in the end, that the least memorable character remaisn the film's lead, but the rest of the cast more than makes up for that.

I applaud this movie for never taking itself seriously and taking the viewer on a magical journes that we rarely see of this kind nowadays. I read many comparisons with The Princess Bride and ya know what? I loved Stardust much more than that one. In fact, in the recent years I've rarey had as much fun at the theatre as I did with Stardust. It contains everything a good fairy tale should contatin: great, tongue-in-cheek humor, wonderful inventice settings and make-up, great characters, nice action and a satisfying finale. In a summer of movies like Live free or Die Hard, Pirates 3, Transformers, The Bourne Ultimatum and many others, I couldn't possibly expect this to end up as my favorite film of the summer (and in fact my current #2 of the last year altogether!).

Wow, what a charming little surprise! I think i fell in love with Michelle Pfeiffer all over again

A perfect film to chill out and enjoy over the holidays. A-

Super confusing movie. I'll have to watch it again but I wasn't really a fan the first time.

This is really good and I’m a little miffed that it has taken me 12 years to see it. Unlike almost all other fantasy stories, this one really swept me up in its lore and world building. It’s not as epic as something like Lord of the Rings or as action-packed as something like Pirates of the Caribbean, but it is superbly well constructed by Vaughn. It also has all the heart it needs and all the right elements to make it a whole lot of fun. It has a prince that wishes to be king, a witch that wishes to be youthful, a lad on a quest for true love, and bucket loads of charm and levity. Not to mention the cast … what a cast! Not only are we treated to two glorious hours of Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Mark Strong, narration by Ian McKellen, and an adept performance by Charlie Cox, but the British supporting cast is just as strong with the likes of Ricky Gervais, Jason Flemyng, Mark Heap, Peter O’Toole, Henry Cavill, Rupert Everett, David Walliams, Adam Buxton, and Dexter Fletcher. Gervais particularly impresses in three short scenes as a sort of rag-and-bone man called Ferdy the Fence. Everyone is brilliant, actually. Claire Danes still with her pre-Homeland serenity, Mark Strong hamming it up as the evil prince intent on taking the throne, Pfeiffer clearly enjoying being the villainous witch, and Robert De Niro is excellent in an against type pirate cum fashionista! And maybe it was the goodwill I felt towards the whole affair or maybe it was a longing for Blighty, I don’t know, but choosing Take That’s “Rule the World” to play out the film was delightful.

This is definitely one of my most watched movies now. It's a quick and easy choice when browsing the DVD collection on a movie night.

The last time I updated my Top 100 films (probably 5+ years ago) it ranked 21st, but I think it'd be in the Top 15 the next time I update. I have some free time this evening, so I may update my list tonight.

Yeah this really is a modern classic. So watchable. I'm glad you guys love it too.

I just found out, 13+ years later, that HENRY CAVILL is in this movie. He's Humphrey, the guy in the village that intends to marry the girl Tristan initially liked and went to seek the star for. (Also the guy at the end that Robert De Niro's character shares a wink with!)

Can't think of a bigger mind blown reveal than this one.