truly, truly wonderful.. favourite movie this year!

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2007)

Stradust, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, follows Tristan as he leaves his own village to find a falling star, and win the love of Victoria. Meanwhile the sons of the late king are fighting and killing each other to be crowned while searching for a lost jewel. Meanwhile, A trio of witches also begin a hunt for the falling star....
I've not read the novel, but the movie co-written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn and directed by Matthew Vaughn is brilliant. The movie plays like a fairy-tale for adults, but at the same time, it subverts the genre, thanks to some brilliant writing, and some fantastic ideas and characters, brought to life by a stunning cast.
Claire Danes as the star in human form is great, Michelle Pfeiffer (who hasn't been in movies recently), has great fun as one of the witches, Charlie Cox makes an appealing hero, Rupert Everett makes a small but memorable appearance as one of the kings sons hoping to be crowned king, but Robert De Niro steals the film with his turn as Captain Shakespeare a sky captain who catches lighting, while hiding a secret from his crew.
The production design is impressive, the effects brilliant, and the humour in the movie is pitched just right. While the actual plot is fairly predictable in places, and you can almost guess the end after the first 10 minutes, I simply didn't care.
As I sat watching it, there was a big smile on my face all the way through. I love fantasy movies, and this sits right up there with the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and Pan's Labyrinth.
There may be better movies this year, and this movie will probably be ignored come awards time, but this movie is my favourite movie of the year.