Stardust

Year: 2007
Running time: 127 minutes
Certificate: PG
Language: English
Screenplay: Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Mark Strong, Jason Flemyng, Kate Magowan, Sienna Miller, Melanie Hill, Ricky Gervais, Dexter Fletcher, David Kelly, Ben Barnes, Henry Cavill, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, Mark Heap, Rupert Everett, David Walliams, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Adam Buxton, Sarah Alexander, Joanna Scanlan, Jake Curran, Mark Williams, Struan Rodger, Olivia Grant, Ian McKellen (voice)

Yvaine, wondering what the hell just happened.

Based on Neil Gaiman's novel / graphic novel, Stardust at first glance could be easy to write off as a Lord of the Rings / Harry Potter fantasy adaptation bandwagon jumper. In fact, it’s significantly different to both, being more whimsical and funnier. The English village of Wall appears to be your average rural village in the middle of nowhere. But the wall the village is named after hides a secret behind its ordinary-looking stone. It serves as a barrier / gateway to Stormhold, a fantastical kingdom not found on any map, filled with magic, witches, sky pirates and murderous princes. A young man named Dunstan Thorne (Ben Barnes) fools the elderly gatekeeper (David Kelly) and escapes for a night beyond the wall where, for want of a better phrase, he gets lucky with a beautiful woman (Kate Magowan). Some time later, a baby boy is left outside his door.

When the baby has grown into a naïve young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox), to prove his love to local girl Victoria (Sienna Miller), much to the annoyance of her suitor Humphrey (Henry Cavill), he proposes to recover a fallen star and bring it back to her. This sets him on a quest which will take him over the wall, but not before his father (Nathaniel Parker) reveals to him the nature of his parentage.

He's not the only one on a quest. The sons of the king (Peter O'Toole) are in a deadly race to retrieve an heirloom that will give them the kingdom, as well as trying to stay alive long enough to claim it. This soon focuses on generally honourable Primus (Jason Flemyng) and the ambitious moral-vacuum Septimus (Mark Strong). The ghosts of the deceased brothers wait and watch to see who will emerge the victor. Elsewhere a trio of ancient witches, desperate to regain their youth which, conveniently, requires the heart of a star, despatch Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) to hunt for and retrieve said star.

First on the scene is Tristan, who finds, to his great surprise, the fallen star has taken the form of a woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes), and she is non too impressed to learn of Tristan's plan to bring her back to Victoria. The stage is set for a chase across Stormhold for love, for power and for youth.

Lamia, about to get witchy.

There is much to delight here. The scenery is beautiful and beautifully shot, and the energetic score is a perfect fit for the type of fast-paced fantasy storytelling from director Matthew Vaughn on show. The characters are a major reason why this film shines so much, which is due largely to Gaiman's novel and the adaptation by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. The casting is as starry as is gets (pun intended): Michelle Pfeiffer channels a more sinister and sexier take on Bette Midlers' witch in Hocus Pocus, Robert de Niro is surprisingly funny and obviously having a ball as Captain Shakespeare, a camp skyship captain with a ruthless reputation to uphold. The scene featuring the crew of Shakespeare's airship fighting is filmed as though it is a dance and is an absolute ball. Ricky Gervais' Ferdy the Fence lets the side down a bit, as he basically plays to type, but he’s still pretty funny.

The absolute star, both literally and figuratively however, is the magnificent Claire Danes as the fallen star with a bad attitude. She is marvellous and in the later scenes when she’s falling for Tristan and beginning to shine you are utterly convinced that she is being completely bowled over by love. Her smile is infectious.

The climax takes place in the witches' palatial home, as all the players left in the game converge and struggle for supremacy. Septimus comes off poorly here, and I suspect Vaughn was really pushing the limits of the PG certificate, as he gets a really rather grim death scene. It's probably not much of a spoiler to confirm that love prevails, but there is an interesting decision to make the ending different to the rather melancholy ending to the source material. This is a prime example for me of where sometimes when adapting books into films it is sometimes advisable to make changes. Gaiman's ending is bittersweet and suits the tone of his story perfectly, while the movie benefits massively from the decision to lighten the end. Both endings fit their particular medium, and either would have been made lesser if they'd had the other one.

Much better than you may have been led to believe.

Score: 8/10

It would seem that I'm out here pretty much alone in my high opinion of Stardust, the general consensus being generally more middling like these reviews from Roger Ebert and Dan at Empire.