Hollywood At It's Wankiest

Rating: 6/10 (5 October 2007)

If it's true that Miramax originally had the rights and gave it up, they must have realized that this was a movie (and a script) that really wasn't worth the bother. The fact that any Gaiman book gets made into a movie amazes this viewer. Talk about hype! Fairy tales like the Princess Bride, Lord Of The Rings, and, Harry Potter, bring something fresh and relateable to an audience that has been inundated by commercial film-making for decades. Those films were very good on all levels and their story lines worked. This is mainly because of the writers who wrote them. They knew how to tell a story and grab the viewer. Unfortunately, this movie should not be mentioned in the same breath as the others. There are some bright spots, namely, Michelle Pfeiffer, who is perfectly over the top and who does a bang up job with her role. There are others, but, the DeNiro role could have been done by a dozen other actors, but, it helps to have a name like his in your otherwise, absurd, badly written, movie.