Review of Stardust (2007) by Ebony S — 28 May 2014

Playing as a sort of bizarre love child between Terry Gilliam and Doctor Who (which makes sense when you realize just how Gilliam-esque the contributions to Doctor Who by Stardust author Neil Gaiman), Stardust is a very fun and whimsical fantasy adventure.

Starring a large ensemble cast including Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole, Ian McKellen, Ricky Gervais, Mark Williams and Henry Cavill, "Stardust" tells a story of a young man (Cox) who ventures into a magical kingdom to bring back a star (Danes) for his crush (Miller). Meanwhile, other forces including a prince (Strong) and a witch (Pfieffer) are also chasing the star for their own gains.

It's a sweet enough romantic story at the start, with some chuckle worthy scenes, but Gaiman's trademark humour kicks in at about the second act with the introduction of Captain Shakespeare, a pirate captain portrayed by De Niro. The character in itself is so hilarious, and De Niro, in his recent self-parody phase, embodies the humour and mischief of the character so outstandingly that it has become one of the veteran actors better non-Scorsese roles.

All of this has been put together visually in spectacular fashion by director Matthew Vaughn, who was showing his versatility in his follow up from the vastly different "Layer Cake".

For any of the cliches that it shows, "Stardust" is still a cute and funny fantasy adventure, that the whole family can genuinely enjoy. Worth watching.