A wonderful fairy tale

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2011)

I'm hard to please; usually, when a film based on one of my favorite book deviates this much from the source material, it simply won't allow me to enjoy the film. It happens all too often that a literary work with real originality and spark is marginalized on the big screen for the sole purpose of selling more tickets.
But for once, the result was so good that I just can't object. Stardust has little to do with Neil Gaiman's original novel, certainly; the changes make sense, though, and I think Gaiman saw that too. The novel was unique in its mixture of classic fairy tale with extreme sexuality and violence; Matthew Vaughn's film version tones down those elements, as well as the more disturbing horror elements, to make the film watchable for kids too. Normally I'd be dead against it, but Vaughn did a wonderful thing - while Stardust is kid-friendly, it's not a kids' movie. The sex and the violence aren't there on the surface, but the intelligence and the dark subtext of the original are still there. The film maintains a lot of Gaiman's spirit while being quite different, which amounts to that rare thing, a film that can be enjoyed by both children and adults on entirely different levels.
Let's not forget, quality fantasy cinema doesn't grow on trees. Lord of the Rings an Harry Potter aside, pickings are still slim enough that I'd welcome any fantasy film that respects the genre and makes for a good watch. Though Stardust isn't quite as quotable and memorable as The Princess Bride, it shares a lot of its qualities, and there's no bigger praise. Stardust may not be as deep, complex or genre-bending as the novel it's based on - it makes much safer choices - it's an incredibly entertaining film, skillfully balancing comedy, romance, suspense, action and lots of imagination, and it's a film anyone can enjoy - you can watch it with your kids, with your parents, with your friends, spouse or date. You can watch it more than once, and you'll get a kick every time.