Original story, lame presentation

Rating: 6/10 (17 August 2007)

Movies must be difficult to make. I think this is true because, given an original story, a decent cast of likable characters, and a book to work from, this movie still fails in most regards. While the dialogue, even the humor and "wit", was fairly weak and seemed like the writer was trying too hard, it was the actual shooting that hurt the film.
Camera angles, lighting, timing of cuts, length of a scene, music, continuity...the film seemed like it was directed by an amateur film maker. The scenes were (mostly) the bare minimum to get the point across - very little dramatic work, and in a fairy tale type romance movie, you want something dramatic, epic.
This film drew early comparisons to the Princess Bride. Stardust is a romantic fantasy with a crazy cast of characters, fencing, fighting, pirates, witches, true love. But the writing and the scene-crafting in the Princess Bride were works of art, and Stardust seems a little too raw -- overblown sarcasm when subtle wit was needed, or the camera focused too briefly on an amusing look by a ghost.
Again, kudos for, finally, an original fantasy story hitting the theatres (instead of sequel upon sequel) and it was a good one. I can imagine the book was much better though.