Review of Stardust (2010) by Stuart K — 10 Mar 2013

Neil Gaiman's 1999 fantasy novella comes to the big screen courtesy of director Matthew Vaughn, best known for producing Guy Ritchie's early work, but here making a stunning transition from gangster films to fantasy films, after his heavy debut with Layer Cake (2004).

This is a very inventive and funny fantasy film, with an all star cast along the way, it's good to see a one-off fantasy film like this in a world of film franchises. In Victorian England, in the village of Wall, lovelorn Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox), crosses over a mysterious wall into the kindom of Stormhold, to bring back a fallen star to the girl of his dreams Victoria (Sienna Miller), it is there he finds out the star is a person called Yvaine (Claire Danes), but it turns out Tristan is not the only person who wants Yvaine.

Also in pursuit is Prince Septimus (Mark Strong), heir to the throne of Stormhold, and elderly witch Lamia (Michelle Pfieffer), wanting youth for her and her sisters Empusa (Sarah Alexander) and Mormo (Joanna Scanlan), and a cross-dressing sky pirate called Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) joins the action as well.

At times hilarious, this is a highly imaginative fantasy adventure with more than a nod and a wink to The Princess Bride. Vaughn has great fun with the material, and it manages to be enchanting while retaining a very English sense of humour.