Wit and humour above all else

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 2007)

Recognizing that different elements in a movie will appeal to different people, I consider wit and humour the prime attraction for me in Stardust.
While the trailer of Stardust will no doubt bring to mind movies like Princess Bride, it is not quite a pure romance. Right from the beginning, it does not present the heroine with an elegant, romantic aura as you see in Robin Wright. Claire Danes at the start of the movie is loud, rude, impatient and limping! The charm comes later but towards the end, she is just as captivating as Robin Wright, if not more. But let me back up a little bit first.
The star in Stardust is Danes, in the form of a young woman so long as she reminds in a magical realm outside our normal world, the trespassing into which will turn her into stone (albeit a piece of gem). She (as a piece of gem) is thrown by a devious old king played by Peter O'Toole as the final test as to who among his seven sons will succeed him. Talking about wit and humour, these seven sons provide a rich source. Some are already dead and appear as black-and-white ghosts at the beginning while others join their rank as the story unfolds. The most prominent two are played by Mark Strong and Rupert Everett.
Another plot line centers around love-sick Tristran (Charlie Cox) who promises to venture out of the normal world to bring his love Victoria (Sienna Miller) the falling star they see, within seven days, to win her hand in marriage. It doesn't take a veteran moviegoer to see that Trintran is another delightful source of humour for the movie makers.
Completing the interwoven (but not complicated) plot is several-hundred-year-old witch Lamia and her two sisters' quest to attain perpetual youth from the heart of the fallen star. By drawing lots, which are in fact internal organs of an animal just cut open, Lamia wins with the heart (over the sisters' kidney and liver) and gets the chance to swallow the last magical portion they had, which restores her youth temporarily. This quest generates a lot of laughs, some quite as crude as the above-mentioned lot-drawing but mostly not. Michelle Pfeiffer must be complimented for allowing herself the look of a grotesque old hag, although she does get to look beautiful during the middle portion of the movie.
From those three interwoven plots, you get a ride of merriment throughout the entire movie. Granted that these are not Woody Allen type sophisticated humour, they are usually quite decent and funny. Must be mentioned is a little side-plot with Robert De Niro playing the captain of an airship. This is the funny De Niro, something like what you see in "Analyze this".
There are of course all these other things that complete a fantasy adventure movie  special effects, combats, vehicle chase scenes and all the rest of them. But what about romance? Be rest assured that you'll have that too. This comes in the unlikely-odd-couple variety, which often gives more satisfaction, when it blossoms, than the standard boy-meets-girl routine. As to Claire Danes, one critic holds that she is miscast, citing Gwyneth Paltrow as a better choice. I found myself agreeing with him in the first half of the movie, until it comes to Danes' soliloquies to a mouse that is Tristran. That scene changes my mind, unequivocally. Claire Danes for Stardust, nobody else.