Stardust

It’s been a while since we had a real, honest to goodness (inclusive of unicorns and witches) fairy tale unfold over the silver screens. Not since perhaps the Lord of the Rings trilogy have audiences been transported to a fantastical realm where your imagination can run riot and where it is steeped in magic. If you’ve missed those simple fantasy stories filled with comedy, horror, heart and wonder, then Stardust is the ticket you must have.

Stardust, which was adapted from the Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess’s illustrated novel of the same name, begins its story in a little town called Wall. Wall is known to be the final frontier between the world as we know it, and the magical land called Stormhold.
In Wall, young Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox) is dying to win the hand in marriage of local beauty Victoria (Sienna Miller). He foolishly promises her the star which both have just seen fall across the wall.

Unbeknownst to Tristan, he’s not the only one seeking the fallen star, which as he discovers, is not a rock but a lady called Yvaine (Claire Danes) that glows and glowers. Also looking for her are three princes, on a quest for their father’s ruby necklace that will grant one of them the title of king. And perhaps more dangerous is the crone Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who seeks the fallen star to restore her youth and that of her sisters by cutting out the star’s heart and eating it.

If you think there’s a lot going on in Stardust, you’re absolutely right. Like any good fantasy novel, characters are introduced constantly and plotlines overlap each other to form a rather tangled web. But that’s also where its charm lies. The characters in this movie, whether evil, deceitful or innocent, are one of its strongest points. Lamia, wicked ol’ witch that she is, is also a delight to watch as Pfeiffer portrays her with a good balance of evil and comic timing. The dead princes who trail the three living ones provide hilarious commentary throughout the movie, effectively livening up what could’ve been a rather violent movie – siblings killing siblings, witches cutting up animals to read their entrails, people butchered just because it was convenient. Perhaps the cherry on top of this great cast is Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare, a man who really is not what he seems …

But what’s even better than the talented cast is the simple concept of quality story telling, which is sometimes lost in this era of CGI and SFX. The ageless themes of good versus evil, of triumph after tragedy and of growing up are all issues we can relate to, no matter how old we are. So leave your cynicisms at the door and for two hours, let Stardust enchant you with its promise of a happily ever after.
 

Cast Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro Director Matthew Vaughn Runtime 130 minutes Opens 1 November
 

Text Sarah Chan