Sugary, effects-filled extravaganza

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2016)

STARDUST is one of those flimsy, lightweight, CGI-fuelled effects extravaganzas that have been all the rage in cinema as of late. Eschewing plot and character in favour of pithy one-liners and outlandish caricatures, this is an adventure yarn aimed squarely at the masses and focusing on style over substance. Needless to say I'm not the ideal target audience; I'm a guy who likes something solid in his films among the effects, and I didn't find it here.
That's not to say it isn't entertaining. On a superficial level, it definitely is. The CGI effects are pretty good and the fantasy world is well imagined. A near-continuous plethora of cameo appearances also helps out on the entertainment front too: Robert De Niro has a ball as a camp pirate, Michelle Pfeiffer equals him as a wicked witch, and Mark Strong does his snarling bad guy routine very efficiently. Then there are brief turns from Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole, Ricky Gervais, David Kelly, Rupert Everett, and Ian McKellen as the sonorous narrator. These help pass the time. Claire Danes is a bit wishy-washy as the fairy-type character, though, and I never did end up warming to Charlie Cox's lead.
Still, there are moments of inspiration amid the chaos and the fantasy stereotypes. The ending, in which Strong's character is exposed to all manner of dark magic, is very well realised. There are twists galore, and a level of breathless imagination usually missing from fantasy films. The resultant concoction is a bit like a sugary sweet: fun at the time, but not something you'd want to return too for fear of an upset stomach.