Stardust – a review
Erin and I, last Saturday, went to see Stardust at the Provo Towncenter (I think) mall at the Cinemark movie theater there. We were in the mall, primarily, to find something for Erin and decided to pick up tickets only to discover that the movie was starting in ten minutes. On a whim, we went. We were not disappointed.
Generally speaking, Stardust is a fantasy epic with touches on steampunk and a nod to movies like The Princess Bride without actually touching on either element. It was an amazing movie that deserves to be watched; moreover, it is a movie that makes you wonder how Hollywood does not catch a clue and make more movies like this. Both Erin and I, amazingly, enjoyed the movie – a lot.
Stardust is a movie based off of a Neil Gaiman work. Basically, a young man sees a star fall as he is spending time with a girl he thinks he is in love with. She is about to marry a rival and, as a result, the young man promises to cross a wall in to another land and retrieve the falling star for her. She agrees that if in a week he can bring back the fallen star she will marry him. So off he goes on his adventure to retrieve the falling star.
Enter Stormhold a land that sits alongside England… or… well… a land you get to through a small town called Wall in England. It is a magical land that does not follow the same rules as our world. There are witches and ghosts, flying ships that collect lightning, there are merchants, princesses, princes, sword fights, and all sorts of things not to forget unicorns and magical chains that grow and shrink and keep the person chained, well… chained.
From what I understand as I’ve not read the book there is a battle between some kind of a large cat and the unicorn, but, truth told, it was kind of cool to see the unicorn and to have the protagonist lose the star and… oh, did I mention the star was really a girl.
Anyway, as the protagonist, Tristen, takes the star, who is also a girl, back to the town of Wall, they have adventures like running in to a witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who is obsessed with eternal youth and who wants to kill the star to get her heart which will, also, allow her to maintain her youth. They run in to a group of pirates who sail on a ship (that also floats) through the sky under a large balloon with a captain (Robert De Niro) who is a little weird and also very fun to watch.
The whole movie is really a love story. It is an adventure in a strange land where almost everything turns out the way it is supposed to be and the evil princes who are trying to change a ruby from clear back to red (you have to either read the book or see the movie as to why) all end up dying and hanging around until the end, seemingly haunting each other until Tristan succeeds in destroying the witches and discovering what it means to grow up, be an adult, fall in love, and do what is necessary to get what he really wants out of life.
In the end, Erin and I both felt like the movie was totally one that was worth watching. It was worth the cost of the ticket, it may be one we purchase when it comes out on DVD and it is a movie that makes you feel better about yourself having watched it. Not all movies do that. In this case, we liked the movie that when her brother started talking about what he was going to do with the girl he has started dating, is dating (I really don’t know what is going on there as she has a countdown on her myspace page for when her missionary comes home and yet they’ve spent their free time together the last few days), that he take her to the movie because, well, it is that kind of a movie. You want to take your sweetheart to it because… well… think Return of the Jedi and the Ewoks or The Princess Bride where the mere presence of the movie is enough to make her all touchy feely and yadda. Anyway, great, GREAT, date movie.
The point is that I really enjoyed this movie. I liked how it was acted. I enjoyed the adventure. It spoke to a lot of things that I enjoy in fiction and stories and enjoy when they are done in movies. In the end, I highly recommend this movie if you just want to go and see a movie.
John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Bond. James Bond