Stardust

Starring: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer,  Robert DeNiro, Mark Strong, and the voice of Ian McKellan

Written by: Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman Based on the novel by: Neil Gaiman

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

REVIEW BY PAUL TALON

Neil Gaiman always called his novel Stardust a fairy tale for adults. While I have yet to read the book (it’s in the queue!), I have to say he’s almost got it. I think it’s a fairy tale that is for the whole family. It has enough innocent fun to snare the attention of a dreaming child, yet definitely enough spark and charisma to entice their parents as well.

All of us, deep down yearn for that innocent tale of love, adventure, and good triumphing over evil in a world unlike our own by appearance, yet completely like our own in heart.

Gaiman sets his tale in those two worlds, Wall and Stormhold. Wall, a small town in England is bordered by this magical wonderland and the two never cross. Well almost never. In the first scene we see a daring young man from Wall burst into the magical world with aplomb and have an affair with the slave of a witch, who claims she’s a lost princess. The story is then set in motion as nine months later, baby Tristan arrives as an unknown “souvenir” as narrator Ian McKellan tells us.

Let me stop there and say that with a story that includes a narrator, even if only briefly, the voice of said narrator can set the tone so clearly that it either wins the viewer over immediately or sets them back so far that it may be impossible to grab them back. Fortunately McKellan has “the voice” that few have and with just the slightest bit of twinkling, the magic is immediate.

The film struggles at times to showcase it’s central storyline as there are a few. It is obvious that the most important throughline is that of Tristan, leaving behind Wall and his boyish innocence and infatuations, and becoming a man by chasing after his dreams and his stars. In this case it’s a real star, fallen from the sky. In youthful abandon he promises the shallow girl that in exchange for her hand in marriage, he would find the star and bring it back to her.

However, in this tale, the two other storylines (and one major sidebar) compete so vigorously for attention that the attention becomes blurred.

The star of the title (named Yvaine), has fallen due to the King of Stormhold’s decree. After having seven sons and one daughter, he is ready to move on to the next world and declares that the one to find the stone he is holding will be king. He throws it far away and it hits our star sending them both plummeting to the earth. So now we have 2 groups looking for the star.

This storyline is amusing in it’s absurdity that only could be in a fairy tale. Peter O’Toole, in a minor role sets the tone well by encouraging his sons to kill each other to claim the throne. The real kick though is that every dead brother gets to hang around and commentate like a supernatural Greek chorus, adding much humor to the proceedings. I actually wish we could have seen more from them, but perhaps there was just enough to leave us wanting more.

But we are not happy with two competing parties searching for the star, but we have a third. It seems that one who possesses the heart of the star may gain a certain immortality and youthfulness. Three witches, led by a cackling Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays the role with a refreshing abandon, are now also after the star and will kill anyone who stands in their way.

The major sidebar and quite frankly the stealer of the show are the sequences with Robert DeNiro as Captain Shakespeare, a pirate with dual identities. By day, a tough, macho, swashbuckling pirate. By night, a dancing queen full with cabaret dresses and song. With his crew who pretends not to know the truth, Captain Shakespeare begs for a spinoff of their own for when Tristan and Yvaine leave their company, it is with great regret to the viewer.

Well as one can guess the groups all become entwined before rushing headlong into a fantastical conclusion, which as most fairy tales do, ends happily ever after. But we knew that going in truly. However, also like most fairy tales, it is truly the journey that we take that is much more important than the destination and I found myself with a satisfied smile on my face for all 127 minutes of this escapist wonder.

A

REVIEW BY BILL THOMPSON

Fairy tales, witches, fallen stars and sex, oh my! I wish a star that hot could fall down by my town, it would certainly be better than most of the alternatives. Keeping with the hot theme, for a 40 year old chick Michelle Pfeiffer still has it going on. Well, at least she does in the middle of the movie, not at the beginning or the end when she’s all old and nasty. But hey, if that’s your thing that’s a-ok by me. Now, if only I could find some magical chain that would ensnare some beautiful lass, but I’ll settle for the flying boat if push comes to shove!

Screenplay By: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn

Bare Essentials:

A Plot - Tristan Thorn seeks a falling star and discovers much to his surprise that in the fantasy world of Stormhold that star is a living, breathing woman, Yvaine. They journey far and wide in separate but united quests and through their journey fall in love. In the end Tristan and Yvaine both return to the sky as twin stars, but not until they have been married for many generations.

B Plot - The King of Stormhold has died and since there are still three male heirs left alive he drains the color out of a magical amulet and launches it into the sky where it collides with a star and sends it plummeting to Earth. The first of the three male heirs, Septimus, Primus and Tertius, to find the amulet and return its ruby color will be declared King. Primus and Tertius both die in their quest, and Septimus is killed when he is sidetracked in a quest for a fallen star. Tristan Thorn finds the amulet and returns its ruby color, as he, the son of Princess Una, is the last remaining heir to the throne of Stormhold.

C Plot - The three witch sisters, Empusa, Mormo, and Lamia, known as The Lilim seek to carve the heart out of Yvaine and eat it to imbue themselves with eternal youth. Lamia sets forth to try and find the star but is thwarted by the actions of young Tristan Thorn. Her sisters are killed by the arriving Tristan and Septimus while she is eventually killed by the star herself, Yvaine.

Idiosyncratic Musings:

Nothing to add here, this is as straight forward of a fantasy tale as you will ever get. There isn’t any deep meaning or philosophical musings of note, just the standard fare about love and realizing who you really are.

I Think This Might be Based On Something:

The princes and princess of Stormhold are all based on a number system, so nothing historical or anything like that, but a fun anecdote.

The sky pirate, Captain Shakespeare, obviously derives his name from the English playwright William Shakespeare, and he even says as such in the film.

The witch Lamia’s name is taken from Neverwhere, a TV series, novel, and comic by Neil Gaiman. In all those adaptations the character is not a witch however, but a vampire like creature. A Lamia is also a reptilian female demon in Greek mythology.

The witch Empusa is a name taken from another Neil Gaiman work, The Books Of Magic for DC Comics. The name itself is derived from Empusae, female supernatural demonesses and monsters in Greek mythology.

The Lilim are succubi demons in ancient Jewish folklore.

The scene where Ferdy the Fence tells Shakespeare, “Is he having a laugh?” is an homage to Gervais’ character of Andy Millman from Extras who used that as his funny catchphrase for his role in the bad sitcom-within-a-sitcom, When The Whistle Blows.

The movie itself is adapted from the illustrated novel of the same name, written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles Vess.

You Look Mighty Familiar:

Ricky Gervais, Ferdy the Fence, hasn’t done much other genre work outside of Night At The Museum. But, he should be recognizable for his roles as David Brent in the British version of The Office and as Andy Millman in Extras. Not genre, but fantastic shows that deserve a mention.

Robert DeNiro, Captain Shakespeare, is one of the most known actors of any generation. He has appeared in countless roles, many of them notable, but genre wise he was out there in his portrayal of utility man Archilbald “Harry” Tuttle in Brazil. He was also The Creature, or Frankenstein’s Monster, in the horrendous Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. He was also The Fearless Leader in The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle, as well as Richard Wells in Godsend and the voice of Don Lino in Shark Tale.

Claire Danes, Yvaine, was Kate Brewster in the panned too severely Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines. She was also the voice of San in Princess Mononoke, but honestly if you watch any foreign language film without subtitles in its original language then I don’t know what’s wrong with you. She has starred in quite a bit more films, but that’s it for her genre roles.

Michelle Pfeiffer, Lamia, played Isabeau d’Anjou in Ladyhawke. She was the witch Sukie Ridgemont in The Witches Of Eastwick, as well as Brenda Landers in the sci-fi spoof Amazon Women On The Moon. Her most famous genre role would be that of Catwoman in Batman Returns. She also voiced the Goddess Eris in the animated Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas.

Rupert Everett, Secundus, voiced Prince Charming in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third. He also voiced the Fox in The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. He portrayed Claw in the forgettable live action Inspector Gadget. He was Francesco Dellamorte in the delightful Dellamorte Dellamore, or Cemetery Man.

Mark Strong, Septimus, played Finn in the recently released Babylon A.D..

Peter O’ Toole is quite the accomplished and well respected actor. Genre wise he was the voice of restaurant critic Anton Ego in Ratatouille. He played Dr. Timothy Flyte in Phantoms, as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in FairyTale: A True Story. He was also the Emperor of Lilliput in the TV mini-series, Gulliver’s Travels. He was Zaltar in the bad, bad, bad Supergirl. He took on the role of The Three Angels in The Bible: In The Beginning.

David Kelly, the Guard at the Wall, was Grandpa Joe in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and also starred in countless other TV mini-series’ in Great Britain, both genre and non-genre.

Sir Ian McKellan, the narrator, is most known genre wise for two roles, that of Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King as well as Magneto in X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand. He was also the voice of Lorek Byrnison in The Golden Compass. He portrayed the villainous Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code. He was also the shrouded Death in The Last Action Hero, a vastly underrated movie. McKellan has countless other roles to his credit in what has been a fantastic career.

That Wasn’t Supposed To Happen:

There’s a bit of a gaffe in the scene where Lamia is informed by Mormo and Empusa that she’s not the only one after the star. She’s old and withered by that point, but when they cut to a shot of her in the mirror she looks like the regular hot Lamia right after she first transformed.

Final Ticket:

There are films that simply put, get fantasy. They understand all that fantasy entails and Stardust is one of those films. There’s a certain grandiose to every action, happening and person, but at the same time there’s a level of smallness and intimacy about it all that allows for the interweaving of all the characters. You are transported to the fantastic and delightfully larger than life characters and moments that both scare you and warm your heart. Stardust doesn’t taper off, it comes together for the ending that the film requires and the viewer needs. Fantasy when done right is truly a sight to behold and Stardust does it right.

There are lots of little great moments in Stardust, like how the first image we get of Tristan is of him looking up at the star that will one day be his wife. Or the glowing aura that varies around Yvaine and constantly hints at what she really is and what she’s really capable of. Throughout the movie we are regaled with brilliant imagery. The sights and sounds of the bazaar, the magic of Lamia, the fantastic visual of Shakespeare’s sky boat in flight, and last but not least the terrific idea of lightning in a bottle.

The story as it is, is nearly perfect. Sure, there are a few moments where a shortcut is taken or magic is used to get the writers out of trouble, but those moments are few and far between. The writing is brought to life by the actors and the imagery. They work together to form one cohesive story that doesn’t waver or get sidetracked in delivering a fantasy love story. There is one scene in particular that both propels and holds the entire story together. Tristan and Yvaine are captured aboard Shakespeare’s sky boat. Tristan comforts Yvaine and Yvaine comforts Tristan. She grabs his hand to further comfort him not realizing that he badly burnt it helping her escape the clutches of Lamia. He gasps in pain but holds it in. She is completely naive in her effort to console him while he is willing to endure pain just to make her feel better. That is a fantasy love story in a nutshell and it was a joy to take in.

It’s hard to accurately describe the acting because this is one of the cases where every actor nailed their part and brought everything they had to the table. Claire Danes melted right into the role of the naive sweetheart that knows more than even she realizes. Robert DeNiro knocks the character of Shakespeare out of the park, bringing heart and warmth to the film. Michelle Pfeiffer was delicious as the wicked witch and along with Mark Strong as Septimus really gave you someone to root against. Ricky Gervais almost stole the entire movie with his hilarious portrayal of Ferdy. His ability to play the foil and comedic idiot is second to none. Sienna Miller slid right into the comfortable role of the vapid and vain Victoria. She didn’t go too far with the role and made sure she was aloof enough that the audience had someone that they didn’t want Tristan to end up with, but she’s beautiful enough that you wouldn’t be too upset if he did end up with Victoria. Finally there was the lead of Charlie Cox as Tristan. An unknown with an unknown face who was able to be clean, pure and the type of character that you root for to win the girl and save the day. Excellent casting and acting all around.

Stardust is a movie that works on every level one could hope for a movie to work on. It draws you in and captivates you. Stardust makes you care about the characters and the world they live in. Most importantly when you are finished watching Stardust you are happy with what you’ve just seen and know it’s a movie about magic, heroes, fantastic worlds, and that it is an experience that everyone needs to partake in.

Rating:

95/100

A

That wraps up my review of Stardust, and it was quite the enjoyable film to watch and review. Next up will be a trip down memory lane for one of my favorite movies of all time, G.I. Joe: The Movie.

Cheers,
Bill