Stardust escapes the galactic vacuum

Rating: 7/10 (10 August 2007)

This movie would have worked so much better if they had left out the 21st century dialogue and mindset. The 21st century is great for special effects which was almost excellent. But when a movie takes place in another period, please leave out lines like "This is the part where you tell me...". De Niro can say that all he wants when he plays a cop or bad guy, but why waste great acting on really bad dialogue? Unfortunately, the writing often seemed cheap and non-relevant.
What saved the movie was good special effects and the presence of Michelle Pfeiffer, De Niro and Claire Danes along with some very good performances by side-kicks and lesser-knowns.
Throughout much of the movie, you have to accept "changes in the rules" like it were some game that was played by rules which could be changed at anytime(especially at the end). It's like watching a Superman movie where you know what powers he has and you wonder what he will do to get out of a mess. In this movie, disaster can be avoided by simply having a writer toss in a "Scooby-Doo" type explanation to appease the audience rather than enveloping the audience in beauty, awe and mystery. In this case, when beauty and mystery made itself obvious, writing all too often drew the viewer away from its comfort zone by tossing it into a kiddy carnival atmosphere.
I accepted the fact that the writing was not geared to the more mature audience. I also accepted the fact that the movie was not quite what it could have been. I think it is safe to compare this movie to Haunted Mansion. It started out good but cheap comedy changed a good story into something that didn't have a ghost of a chance at being a huge hit.
I gave it a 7 out of 10 because most of the time, I had hope it might get better. Just don't hold your breath thinking the same.