Stardust

Synopsis: In the English village of Wall, Tristan (Charlie Cox) wants to win the heart of his beloved Victoria (Sienna Miller) by bringing her a piece of a fallen star. To do this he must cross the stone wall encircling his village to the kingdom of Stormhold, a parallel supernatural universe where magic and witches hold sway. The fallen star is actually in the shape of a woman, Yvaine (Claire Danes), and anyone who gets her heart will attain mighty powers.  In Stormhold, the king (Peter O’Toole) is dying and his feuding sons are on a quest for powers to secure the throne. Meanwhile a decrepit witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), is looking for eternal youth. As all go in pursuit of the star, adventures abound.

In true fairy tale tradition, this delightful film weaves all the magical elements required for suspension of disbelief, plus a few more.

The film has been visually well-crafted with the town of Wall set up as an archetypically quaint English village. In stark contrast, Stormhold is a land of magic and fantasy and some excellent creations and special effects are to be found there, such as the zeppelin-like “ship” which sails the skies harvesting lightning. The witches’ lair is dark and brooding, while the witches, with their 200-year-old peeling faces and scraggly hair are a tour-de-force of make-up artistry. Another distinctive location is the fortress of the King and his seven sons, some of whom are already ghosts at the start of the film and whose role as choric figures overlooking the action is quite amusing. Then there are the main market streets of the kingdom, with a vibrant North-African-ish feel.

In some ways the variety of scenes is almost too eclectic and hotch-potchy but it certainly adds visual interest and keeps the imagination ticking over. Similarly, the plot at times threatens to become too involved with more characters than you can poke a stick at, with things like a unicorn, a travelling circus, and characters transformed into animals thrown in for good measure.

As an ensemble piece, the casting people certainly garnered some top talent. Pfeiffer seems to have found a niche playing nasty and she’s terrific as the archetypal wicked witch. A stand-out is the iconic Robert de Niro, who plays Captain Shakespeare, who helms the lightning ship, and has a penchant for doing the can-can! Great dramatic actor that he is, he is also a dab hand at comedy. Speaking of which, the ubiquitous Ricky Gervais has a nice cameo piece as Ferdy the Fence. Claire Danes is Yvaine, the fallen star, who falls to earth in the form of a young woman. Somehow for me this character is a little too ordinary to be a star and the technique of having her glow when she’s happy is not used consistently enough. Opposite her Cox is pleasant enough, but there’s no real chemistry between them. Miller has but a minimal amount to do as Victoria.

Based on a best-selling book by Neil Gaiman, this cinematic adaptation is nothing more or less than it purports to be – a piece of entertaining romantic escapism with some rather nifty special effects.

 

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