Maybe Fantasy Just Isn't My Genre

Rating: 4/10 (13 August 2007)

With the success of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, Hollywood went scrambling to grab up any literary fantasy properties they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, most of them don't seem to be translating to the screen very well, and they're apparently really scraping the bottom of the barrel to find new ones to turn into film series. The latest example: Stardust. Now, I haven't read the book, but I've heard a lot of good things about Neil Gaiman's works, so I have to think that in this case either the fault lies with the filmmakers, or maybe it's just a good book that doesn't make for a good movie. ...or maybe the book sucked too. I don't know.
I really wanted to like it going in, but by about ten minutes in, I already knew I'd be disappointed. I was hearing comparisons to The Princess Bride in some reviews, but beyond the fairy-tale type aspect, there's no comparison. This film should not be mentioned in the same sentence. The direction was lacking, the story completely predictable and silly (and not in a good way), and the casting questionable. The biggest offender here is Robert Deniro in a dull, pointless turn as Captain Shakespeare, the man with a mean reputation who it turns out is very sensitive and effeminate. Look! It's Deniro acting gay! Isn't that hilarious?!? ummm... NO. (Though there plenty in my theater who were laughing like crazy. The same crowd, I would guess, that made the painfully unfunny Wild Hogs a smash hit.) I also have to wonder about the casting of Sarah Alexander (Coupling) as one of the witches. Here you have an attractive young blonde actress who you put in ugly, decaying, old witch makeup. I assumed that, like Michelle Pfeiffer, they cast her because you'd see her young again at some point. But we never did. So they could just as easily have put an actual old woman in the role. I don't get it. Maybe there were some scenes cut out or something.
One other observation: the guy who did the score has SERIOUS Hans Zimmer envy. Practically every music cue sounded like it was lifted directly from Pirates of the Caribbean.
The movie wasn't a complete disaster, but I can't recommend it to anyone, and I doubt I'll ever watch it again. Like I said, maybe fantasy just isn't my thing. I enjoyed the LOTR movies, but the rest of the series they're scraping up to cash in on the trend are just falling way short. Potter, Narnia, ...next up is The Golden Compass, from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. The cast looks good, and the trailer is somewhat interesting, but I'm going in with low expectations, based on my disappointment with the latest genre entries. Hopefully it will prove me wrong.