Review of Stardust (2007) by Jims. — 18 Aug 2007

The preview for Stardust was pretty awful, it looked liked a self-consciously quirky fantasy film filled with dated special effects and campy performances. The special effects are in fact pretty mediocre, looking like they were made for TV, but fortunately, that doesn't get in the way of a film that's truly epic and thrilling in scope and imagination.

Unlike the trailer, much of the film's unique rhythms felt natural, coming off both refreshing and engaging. There was enough complexity in plot and character development to come off as a fresh take on the fantasy genre, but no so much that it felt like a forced exercise in genre bending.

What I admired the most though was how momentum was successfully built throughout the film through a simple, but thrilling soundtrack and how well the film tackled standard movie fare, such as finding true love and the rockiness of the path to adulthood.

These commonly touched on themes that often come off as cliched and cheesy in other films were genuinely touching in Stardust. There's plenty of comedy in the film, but it worked well within the framework of a fantasy action-adventure, instead of overtaking it.

And the laughs were much more hit than miss, working within the world of the film instead of the actors winking at the camera. The only time I really felt like this mood was broken was Deniro's appearance as a fey pirate.

The audience laughed a lot during that segment, but I really think it was only because we all knew Deniro usually plays bad ass gangsters. That was the only part where I really felt the movie was trying to subvert its star power to come off as self-consciously off beat, since Deniro's performance itself was pretty unconvincing.

Overall, I highly recommend this movie, it's my favorite of 2007. It's really unique, thrilling, touching, and funny without browbeating the audience with how clever and different it is.