Charlie Cox weak lead and too much time with villains

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2013)

There is a doorway to the fantasy kingdom of Stormhold from the English town of Wall village through a break in the town's wall. About 150 years ago, a young man walks through the break and encountered an imprisoned princess. Later, a baby is left at the wall for the young man. The baby would grow up to be Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox). Tristan pines for reluctant Victoria (Sienna Miller), and goes to catch a fallen star in Stormhold as a gift to win the hand of Victoria. The star's name turns out to be Yvaine (Claire Danes). Others are also looking for the star. Heirs to Stormhold need to find a ruby with Yvaine to get the throne. And a trio of witches led by Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) want the star to make them young.
There are a lot of characters and a lot of story to get through at the start. It's too much. It's too complicated before Tristan ever starts his journey. Simplification is the name of the game. There are just too many characters. And the story really should only follow Tristan and Yvaine around. Instead there are too much time spent on the other characters. We keep switching back to the bad guys' plot lines.
The other problem is that Charlie Cox is too weak to lead. He doesn't have the acting chops. With so many great actors around him, he just feels very small by comparison. And Claire Danes doing an English accent is very odd. Those two make a strange couple. And they keep trying to tell sly jokes. Maybe it works for the Brits, but it mostly fell flat. I'm sure it was a fun novel to read, but it just ran on as a movie.