Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

I find one of the more interesting trends of movie makers in the last 15 years has been their fixation with recreating stories on the silver screen associated with being ‘children’s favourites’. From fairy tale stories like The Brothers Grimm, and The Lord of the Rings, to children’s hits like Spider-Man and Transformers, it’s now the money-making formula to take an existing story, spruce it up, do ‘justice’ to the franchise, and then sit back to count the money that will roll in. Good or bad, these types of movies are traditionally ones that, well, use the creative flair of someone, and then are interpreted, correctly or not, by someone else.

Sure, the script and things like that are feasibly ‘new’, but those who had read the comic book would 99% be able to tell you what the Spider-Man was going to be about. Usually speaking, book to film adaptations are not only difficult to achieve properly, but tend to earn the ire of fans who love the written version. However, my overall look to this movie was really positive. I walked out thinking – and this is contrary to some movies I’ve seen lately – ‘Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen a movie quite like that for a good while.’

The unique flavour the film presents is one of traditional romance, fairytale, and well written humour that is spliced together with a 19th century feel. The overall English flavour to this story is one that I would compare to Narnia; Classy, yet with the clever wit that only English actors can seem to pull off. Well, at least the accent purveys that sentiment to me. Without gibbering on too much, the story of Stardust stands along young Tristan, played fantastically by Charlie Cox, who is infatuated with his love for snobbish Victoria, portrayed aptly by Sienna Miller. Their love is one clichéd in many romances, where the girl is being courted by two young men. One is rich, usually an arrogant ass, and the obvious choice of suitor for the young girl who is more in love with what he brings to the table than bound by and emotional bond. The other is usually a poor smitten kid, who is intellectually and personality wise the far superior choice, but just like the nerd at school he’s overlooked in favour of shiny things and status.

So basically, it’s a summation of my own personal love life. Ha ha… ha… *Sigh*
Anyways, Tristan manages to get Victoria to a star light picnic, where he looks to wine and dine her with champagne… So champagne and dine… Really doesn’t have the same ring to it does it?

*Slapped by Liam*
Ok, ok…Moving on.

The picnic is going well before a shooting star flies through the air. Taking up the challenge to find the star, and bring it back to Victoria in order to gain her hand in marriage, Tristan takes up the challenge of crossing ‘The Wall’ and into another world.

*Cue spooky music*

In his attempt, he is unceremoniously belted by the Guard of the Wall, humorously played by David Kelly; An actor that looks like he was dug up by the director in order to fulfil the ‘crusty old man’ description the guard persona holds. After being given a small package left by his mother and encouraged by his father (Nathaniel Thorn), Tristan lights a candle and warps to the landing destination of the fallen star Yvaine, played brilliantly by Claire Danes. Realising he had found the star; Tristan seeks to return her to Victoria in order to win her hand. Many amusing conversations, full of banter and veiled admissions of attraction, was not only enjoyable, but the beaming smile of Danes and facial expressions of Cox both endeared their characters to me and fulfilled the required visual chemistry for one to believe these two people were actually falling in love.

The crux of the movie revolved around three different intentions; Tristan, who sought to bring Yvaine to Victoria in order to win her hand, was the main story line. The secondary intention was that of the 4 surviving male children to the king of Stormhold to practically kill each other in order to take the throne. This element of the movie was where quite a bit of the humour was found. Each of the 7 brothers, three of whom were ghosts, was required to kill each other at the kings command to take the throne. With four surviving, each of their deaths were both amusing and provided excellent ‘peanut gallery’ comments. Each ghost was bound to earth until the new heir to the throne replaced their deceased father. Only when the next heir took the crown would the ghosts be allowed to cross over. Conveniently named Primus, Secondus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus to reflect their sequential birth (And their fathers limited creativity), they prove to be an amusing element of the movie.

The third element to the storyline is where the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer steps in Lamia. Royalty amongst the witches of the land of Stormhold, she and her three sisters require to eat the heart of a fallen star in order to remain beautiful. This vampire-like behaviour sees Lamia search high and low to find the girl and restore her beauty. I must admit, when she looked as ugly as she did made up, and she looked so beautiful when her natural self, it’s no wonder she was feeling hungry for a little bit of human flesh. Think ugly hag, then multiply it by 4, square it by the looks of the child out of The Ring, and add the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. That ugly. I’ll tell you, after staring at Pfeiffer as glamorous as she was, and then to see her progressively get uglier, it made me a very sad panda.

*Slapped by Liam*
Alright, alright. Sheesh, so I digress when good looking women are the topic. I can’t help it.
…
Okay, maybe I can. A little.

Anyways, there were some standout performances supporting the excellent work by Danes and Cox. Robert De Niro, who played the pirate Captain Shakespeare, almost stole the show. Playing what I could only describe best as ‘a gay space pirate’, De Niro was absolutely fabulous darling. You won’t understand why I say that until you see his performance. In any case, he and his crew of merry pirates were hilarious. Melanie Hill, who played Ditchwater Sal, was particularly grimy and entertaining as a despicable witch who not only kept captive of Una (Played by the gorgeous Kate Magowan), but looked like she hadn’t showered in months. The voice over efforts of Ian McKellen gave that story-telling feel to the movie, and just added extra character to the movie itself.

The location settings for the movie were probably one of the big highlights of the movie as well. I don’t know where it was, but I’d presume it was country England or Ireland, and it was amazing. Green, rustic and picture perfect to the 1800’s, it gave a positive feel to the movie and honestly added to the escapism one desires when in a theatre.

Overall, I still greatly believe this is the type of movie you don’t see come across very often. Director Matthew Vaughn has done a terrific job to present the movie as not just a ‘good story’ but one that really captures the audience. Spanning a healthy two hours, the storyline reveals itself in a timely fashion, and the character development deep enough to keep you interested but without overloading you. I’d probably say that the only downside is it is a touch predictable with the end result, but considering it is an old school ‘fairy tale’ movie then you’re probably walking in thinking that a happy ending is inevitable. The fact that the novel of Stardust was only released in 1998, and the relative contemporary story within an age old genre means that it will offer something to those wishing to escape for a few hours into a pleasant and inoffensive world of magic and romance.

3.8 / 5

Pro’s:
Relatively unique film in the current crop of releases
No over the top CGI etc; Very story based
Claire Danes is hot

Con’s:
Somewhat predictable ending
Not enough of Michelle Pfeiffer at her glamorous best.