One of the most fantastic cinematic experiences of the year!

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 2007)

You have to be quite mundane not to love a movie that contains humor, love, lightning-catching pirates, heroes, villains, magic, and fantasy. "Stardust" has it all. Based on Neil Gaiman's must-read novel, "Stardust" tells the tale of how 18-year-old Tristran Thorn becomes a man after he vows to bring back a fallen star to the woman he's infatuated with as a token of his love for her. The girl agrees that if he retrieves the star from the magical kingdom separated from them by a huge wall within a week's time, she will marry him. With this promise in mind, Tristran sets out on the adventure that will change his life and his mind about what it means to truly love someone.
Finally, a movie that teaches a message along with being truly entertaining. Not only do we get to witness Matthew Vaughn's great cinematography and directing, but the whole concept for this film was delightful. They had the author's okay on any changes they made during the book-to-script transfer, which keeps one feeling that the integrity of the story was kept in place. The script is clever and funny without being dirty or crude. The audience has no confusion over which characters are bad and which are good. The values that are held by the heroic models are wholesome and worthy. Those held by the villains are detestable and inappropriate.
It is impossible to put in a few short paragraphs how excellent this movie was all around. Charlie Cox and Claire Daines were beautiful together; their acting styles and chemistry melded perfectly. Michelle Pfeiffer was convincingly evil and delightfully poisonous; Robert DeNiro was shockingly non-gangster, and the supporting cast didn't miss a beat. Of all the movies I've seen this year, "Stardust" is the one that shines above the rest.