Customer Reviews

Stardust [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fantasy is hard to find in the movies -- for every "Lord of the Rings," there's only a handful of bad sword'n'sorcery tales for kids ("Eragon," "The Seeker"). As for fairy tales, forget it.

But one little fairy tale HAS made its way into theatres -- an enchanting little story loosely based on a Neil Gaiman novel. And "Stardust's" charm is its lack of pretension, and its willingness to be silly, romantic, fantastical, sparkling and most importantly, tongue-in-cheek. And it has pirates too.

A wall separates our world from the world of magic -- and one night, Dunstan Thorn went over it, and had a brief tryst with a beautiful princess, who is imprisoned by a witch. Nine months later, baby Tristan is left on his doorstep.

Nineteen years later, a dying king magically flings a ruby into the sky, and says that the prince who finds it will be the new king. The two remaining princes -- and the ghosts of their dead brothers -- et off to find it. But that ruby dislodged a star, and it plummets to the ground across the Wall -- attracting the attention of three ancient witches, who use the hearts of stars to restore their spent youth.

Still with me?

Tristan (Charlie Cox) also sees the star, and the snotty girl he adores (Sienna Miller) says that she will marry him if he gets her the star before her birthday. Tristan does manage to find and entrap the beautiful star, Yvaine (Claire Danes), and they start off on a magical adventure of air pirates, unicorns, evil witches, and true love.

"Stardust" has pretty much all the requirements for a fantasy and/or fairy tale movie -- magic, love, an evil villain, and lots of odd characters to round out the cast, and flesh out the story. Not much is actually new. But like the original Gaiman tale, the movie winks affectionately at you as the story unfolds.

In fact, the movie only really stumbles when it stops to ruminate on true love and how precious it is, etc. Cute, but boring -- especially since the romantic leanings of the leads are pretty clear. Director Matthew Vaughn really shines when he's focusing on airships, goat-men, and the occasional magical sword-fight with an dead man.

Despite the scattered nature of the plot, Vaughn directs with a smooth, sure hand, and he sprinkles plenty of comic relief through it -- Captain Shakespeare dancing in drag, or the Greek chorus of murdered princes. And the dialogue avoids fantastical pomposity by being just as tongue-in-cheek ("Nothing says "romance" like a kidnapped injured woman!")

Cox makes an excellent wide-eyed, slightly blinkered country boy, who turns from a bumbling suitor to a strong young hero. Danes isn't quite as ethereal as one would expect Yvain to be, but she gives a solid performance, and Miller is perfect as the snotty, shallow Victoria.

But while the younger performers are solid, the veterans are absolutely brilliant. Pfeiffer is hilarious, chilling and pouty as the constantly frustrated witch, and De Niro steals the show as a cuddly, twinkly-eyed gay pirate who pretends to be brutal. And Peter O'Toole and David Kelly have brief but brilliant appearances.

"Stardust" is exactly what the title suggests -- sparkling, funny, wry, and just deep enough to be entertaining. A solid, sweet little fantasy movie.

beau petit film a revoir les acteurs tous brillants et Deniro petit cote feminin drole et inabituel,a revoir en soirée tranquille chez soi avec ceux que l'on aimes.

L'intrigue n'est certes pas inattendue mais quel déroulement ! Vraiment cool et quel jeu des acteurs. A voir et revoir.

Remember how exciting "Cindarella" was the first time you heard it? You can relive that experience with "Stardust". Neil Gaiman is a writer who can tell stories that are as good as the old ones that took centuries to be crafted into the tales we all know and love. "Stardust", the movie is not simply a clone of "Stardust", the book. Movies use pictures and action in place of carefully chosen words and so this movie will thrill you again if you already love the book - and if you didn't read the book first, it will be a treat waiting for you after you see the movie.
Claire Danes makes the most perfect Yvaine, a 'Fallen Star', and Charlie Cox is the handsome but naive young man, Tristan, who tries to take the 'falling star' back to his home town as a gift to win the hand of his difficult-to-please girlfriend. There are many other veins to this tale but it is best to learn about them as they arrive to amuse and inform you. After all, every good fairy tale tells a story, has some mysteries, and leaves you with a moral to ponder.
There are movies that you will be happy to download or rent but not this one. You will want to own "Stardust"!

When you watch this movie, you can definitely tell that it's based on a book because it's such a great story. I'm not sure why it was such a box-office failure. Perhaps it was a marketing issue (similar to The Golden Compass -- a children's novel that too gory/mature when translated to film). It's definitely worth watching.

I originally saw this movie whilst on a plane, liked it very much. I tried iTunes but had trouble with the quality. Bought the DVD and have watched it many times since.

I am watching this movie right now (not for the first time) and am thinking about how under rated it is. Awesome storie, great performances, funny, its just a well made movie that dose not seem to get the credit it deserve. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good adventure movie.

Fantasy is hard to find in the movies -- for every "Lord of the Rings," there's only a handful of bad sword'n'sorcery tales for kids ("Eragon," "The Seeker"). As for fairy tales, forget it.

But one little fairy tale HAS made its way into theatres -- an enchanting little story loosely based on a Neil Gaiman novel. And "Stardust's" charm is its lack of pretension, and its willingness to be silly, romantic, fantastical, sparkling and most importantly, tongue-in-cheek. And it has pirates too.

A wall separates our world from the world of magic -- and one night, Dunstan Thorn went over it, and had a brief tryst with a beautiful princess, who is imprisoned by a witch. Nine months later, baby Tristan is left on his doorstep.

Nineteen years later, a dying king magically flings a ruby into the sky, and says that the prince who finds it will be the new king. The two remaining princes -- and the ghosts of their dead brothers -- et off to find it. But that ruby dislodged a star, and it plummets to the ground across the Wall -- attracting the attention of three ancient witches, who use the hearts of stars to restore their spent youth.

Still with me?

Tristan (Charlie Cox) also sees the star, and the snotty girl he adores (Sienna Miller) says that she will marry him if he gets her the star before her birthday. Tristan does manage to find and entrap the beautiful star, Yvaine (Claire Danes), and they start off on a magical adventure of air pirates, unicorns, evil witches, and true love.

"Stardust" has pretty much all the requirements for a fantasy and/or fairy tale movie -- magic, love, an evil villain, and lots of odd characters to round out the cast, and flesh out the story. Not much is actually new. But like the original Gaiman tale, the movie winks affectionately at you as the story unfolds.

In fact, the movie only really stumbles when it stops to ruminate on true love and how precious it is, etc. Cute, but boring -- especially since the romantic leanings of the leads are pretty clear. Director Matthew Vaughn really shines when he's focusing on airships, goat-men, and the occasional magical sword-fight with an dead man.

Despite the scattered nature of the plot, Vaughn directs with a smooth, sure hand, and he sprinkles plenty of comic relief through it -- Captain Shakespeare dancing in drag, or the Greek chorus of murdered princes. And the dialogue avoids fantastical pomposity by being just as tongue-in-cheek ("Nothing says "romance" like a kidnapped injured woman!")

Cox makes an excellent wide-eyed, slightly blinkered country boy, who turns from a bumbling suitor to a strong young hero. Danes isn't quite as ethereal as one would expect Yvain to be, but she gives a solid performance, and Miller is perfect as the snotty, shallow Victoria.

But while the younger performers are solid, the veterans are absolutely brilliant. Pfeiffer is hilarious, chilling and pouty as the constantly frustrated witch, and De Niro steals the show as a cuddly, twinkly-eyed gay pirate who pretends to be brutal. And Peter O'Toole and David Kelly have brief but brilliant appearances.

One thing to mention: this movie is almost certainly going to be a must-see on HD DVD. It's very colourful and vibrant, from the clothes to the swooping pirate ship to the bluish ghosts, and it promises to be even more visually impressive when the image is sharpened up.

"Stardust" is exactly what the title suggests -- sparkling, funny, wry, and just deep enough to be entertaining. A solid, sweet little fantasy movie.

Fantasy is hard to find in the movies -- for every "Lord of the Rings," there's only a handful of bad sword'n'sorcery tales for kids ("Eragon," "The Seeker"). As for fairy tales, forget it.

But one little fairy tale HAS made its way into theatres -- an enchanting little story loosely based on a Neil Gaiman novel. And "Stardust's" charm is its lack of pretension, and its willingness to be silly, romantic, fantastical, sparkling and most importantly, tongue-in-cheek. And it has pirates too.

A wall separates our world from the world of magic -- and one night, Dunstan Thorn went over it, and had a brief tryst with a beautiful princess, who is imprisoned by a witch. Nine months later, baby Tristan is left on his doorstep.

Nineteen years later, a dying king magically flings a ruby into the sky, and says that the prince who finds it will be the new king. The two remaining princes -- and the ghosts of their dead brothers -- et off to find it. But that ruby dislodged a star, and it plummets to the ground across the Wall -- attracting the attention of three ancient witches, who use the hearts of stars to restore their spent youth.

Still with me?

Tristan (Charlie Cox) also sees the star, and the snotty girl he adores (Sienna Miller) says that she will marry him if he gets her the star before her birthday. Tristan does manage to find and entrap the beautiful star, Yvaine (Claire Danes), and they start off on a magical adventure of air pirates, unicorns, evil witches, and true love.

"Stardust" has pretty much all the requirements for a fantasy and/or fairy tale movie -- magic, love, an evil villain, and lots of odd characters to round out the cast, and flesh out the story. Not much is actually new. But like the original Gaiman tale, the movie winks affectionately at you as the story unfolds.

In fact, the movie only really stumbles when it stops to ruminate on true love and how precious it is, etc. Cute, but boring -- especially since the romantic leanings of the leads are pretty clear. Director Matthew Vaughn really shines when he's focusing on airships, goat-men, and the occasional magical sword-fight with an dead man.

Despite the scattered nature of the plot, Vaughn directs with a smooth, sure hand, and he sprinkles plenty of comic relief through it -- Captain Shakespeare dancing in drag, or the Greek chorus of murdered princes. And the dialogue avoids fantastical pomposity by being just as tongue-in-cheek ("Nothing says "romance" like a kidnapped injured woman!")

Cox makes an excellent wide-eyed, slightly blinkered country boy, who turns from a bumbling suitor to a strong young hero. Danes isn't quite as ethereal as one would expect Yvain to be, but she gives a solid performance, and Miller is perfect as the snotty, shallow Victoria.

But while the younger performers are solid, the veterans are absolutely brilliant. Pfeiffer is hilarious, chilling and pouty as the constantly frustrated witch, and De Niro steals the show as a cuddly, twinkly-eyed gay pirate who pretends to be brutal. And Peter O'Toole and David Kelly have brief but brilliant appearances.

"Stardust" is exactly what the title suggests -- sparkling, funny, wry, and just deep enough to be entertaining. A solid, sweet little fantasy movie.

You all know the Christmas carol, so maybe you'd like to sing along with me as you read this review about a remarkable fantasy film that should be on everybody's Santa list this year.

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb
Do you see what I see?

A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

Once upon a time, and a long time ago, there lived a king who had seven sons. Apparently not very imaginative in the naming department, he named them Primus, Secundus, Tertius and so on until he got to Septimus. As per family tradition, the last brother left standing would inherit the kingdom, and pretty soon it came down to the final four. The king changed a ruby into a diamond and cast it out into the heavens, decreeing that the brother who found it and changed it back into a ruby would rule them all. Of course, there can be only one, and soon it's every prince for himself.

The story revolves around a star that tumbles to earth as a result of the aforementioned family feud, assuming human form in the likeness of Claire Danes, who certainly does have the right sort of luminosity to pull off the role. Soon it's open season on Yvaine, for that is the name of the star, with Tristan (Charlie Cox) seeking a gift for the girl he loves, Lamia the witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) out to gather some heart of star beauty treatments, and the last (but not least) prince seeking his kingdom.

Packed with excitement, magic, comedy and romance, as well as morbid humor, lots of murder (without blood or gore) and Robert DeNiro as you've never seen him before, you won't even notice that you've been glued to your seat for over two hours.

It may not be suitable for younger kids as there's a fair amount of violence and some really ugly witches (though none uglier than Angelica in The Witches), but fantasy lovers (people who love fantasy - not the famous personality you've been dreaming about) will find this movie absolutely amazing and enthralling. I certainly did.

Amanda Richards