A Star Rises From the Dust

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2008)

Once upon a time there was an author by the name of Neil Gaiman who decided to dazzle us all by presenting us to a magical world unlike any other we'd ever seen. In this world there was magic and fairies, witches and pirates. There was everything you could ever want in a fantasy. He named it Stardust.
Eight years later, Paramount Pictures Movies Production Company hired director Matthew Vaughn to bring to life this fairytale for the big screen. A tremendous job since the book was so beautifully written and eloquently told. With a limited budget he was to create a movie with outrageous special effects, spells at every turn, and action on a large scale. All while making it believable and entertaining.
Could he pull it off? The answer is yes.
Very seldom am I able to use the sentence: The movie was better than the book. Seldom, but here it fits the case. The movie Stardust was filled with mind-blowing action sequences, witty humor, clever lines, and a gripping plot line that slightly differed from that of the novel but was completely for the better. There is something for every viewer: action, romance, comedy, fantasy, horror; all brought together in a near-perfect way.
A modern fairytale, Stardust begins in a different place, the fictional country of wall just outside Great Britain. The city is named Wall because of the stone barrier surrounding it. Nobody is allowed to cross the barrier, neither citizens of wall, or those outside wall. Yet young Dunstan Thorn is mischievous and tricks the guard and escapes to the outside world where he meets the lovely Una at the fairy market. They fall in love and she gives birth to their son, Tristan Thorn, who is the main focus of the movie. When he is grown, he is just like his father: wanting to be outside the enclosure in which he has grown up. To win the heart of the icy Victoria, of whom he is love, he promises her that he will bring her the fallen star they see as they picnic on a grassy starlit hill.
From there the movie only gets better, drawing to a close with a satisfying climax and the perfect ending.
Even though it is two-plus hours, the movie didn't feel a minute too long as most movies of the same length do. Charlie Cox (Tristan) and Claire Danes (Yvainne) delight throughout the entire movie, taking us along a ride that includes Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Sienna Miller among others. If there was any flaw in this movie it was that it was severely under-promoted and could have done much better had it been advertised more.