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Thursday, December 02, 2010

Stardust

"You know you sort of - glitter sometimes. I've just noticed it. Is it... Is it normal?"
"Let's see if you can work it out for yourself. What do stars do?"
"Hmm... Attract trouble?"

The town of Wall is surrounded by a wall, which is guarded by an elderly man.  On the other side of the wall is the mystical kingdom of Stormhold.  One day a falling star, Yvaine (Danes), crashes in Stormhold.  Soon the star is sought by several groups of people...

-A boy from Wall, Tristan (Cox), promises to give the star to Victoria (Sienna Miller) to keep her from marrying someone else.
-A trio of evil witches, led by Lamia (Peiffer) want to cut out the heart of the star to stay young and beautiful forever.
-And the living princes of Stormhold, Primus (Jason Flemyng) and Septimus (Strong) need the necklace Yvaine is wearing to claim their father's throne and rule the kingdom.  The king had seven sons (named for their place in line for the throne... Primus, Secondus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus, Septimus), but they have been killing each other for years to eliminate the chances of someone else ruling the kingdom.

With magic guiding each search who will get there first?


Adapted from the novel with the same name by Neil Gaiman, this film has something for everyone.  There is humor, romance, betrayal, magic, sword fights, pirates... I'm excited just thinking about it!

A strong, interesting storyline and a talented cast bring the story to life.  All of the main characters work well... most of the characters that live in Wall, such as Sienna Miller's Victoria, are boring and one dimensional.  But if you can survive that portion of the story, it picks up once Tristan crosses the border to Stormhold.  The characters in Stormhold are more interesting and more enjoyable, with the exception of Ricky Gervais' Ferdy the Fence.  He is funny, but goes too far with the character.  If he toned it back a bit, his character would be a highlight... Gervais is funny, but sometimes he goes too far and the characters / comedy bits just fall a little flat.

Michelle Pfeiffer throws herself into the part of Lamia and looks like she's having a blast.  While the character of Lamia is interesting, she doesn't hold a candle to the pirates.  Robert De Niro's notorious pirate Captain Shakespeare only appears in a few scenes, but he manages to steal the show.  The princes of Stormhold are comedic relief and interesting characters, especially the dead ones.  Charlie Cox and Claire Danes have good chemistry and really embody their characters.

A good family film... the filmmakers manage to keep the language clean AND avoid showing blood / gore.  Yes, some of the characters die during the film and other characters are already dead, but they don't rely on gore to portray these deaths.  And the characters that are already dead are played for laughs.

Definitely worth taking a chance on a fantasy film!

Stardust (2007) 127 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some fantasy violence and risque humor
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Claire Danes as Yvaine
Charlie Cox as Tristan Thorne
Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia
Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare
Mark Strong as Septimus
Ian McKellan as the Narrator

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