It Ain't The Princess Bride

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 2007)

Having met and spoken to Mr. Gaiman about his writings and, specifically, about this film, I had extremely high hopes for it. For those not "in-the-know," Neil Gaiman is the author of the novel STARDUST, as well as many other award-winning stories.
There's been a bit of buzz about comparisons between Stardust and THE PRINCESS BRIDE. And although I can see a few points, Stardust is really its own animal. This is both good and bad. The good comes from the fact that it's original and almost epic in scale. The bad is that it strikes a few funny chords only to reign itself back into serious territory where much of its umpf! is lost. The Princess Bride played off its ridiculous nature so well that you knew nothing was to be taken too seriously. It never went for the serious angle (much to watchers' delight). But Stardust loses quite a bit of its power by jumping back and forth, as well as having a beginning that lagged.
If you're looking for an honest retelling of Gaiman's Stardust novel, please don't go and see this. Just as if you enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, I wouldn't expect that you'd go see BLADE RUNNER and applaud its accuracy to the novel. That is to say that both mediums have their good points, just try not to compare them too closely.
What we have here is a smidgin of Neil Gaiman's story taken out and revamped for movie audiences. And this is a good thing. Trying to be too strict to a novel's plot can stymie creativity when it comes to film time. Thankfully writer/director Matthew Vaughn realized this.
Although there are peeks into Gaiman's story, most of it is Hollywoodized to appeal to a larger audience. The mysterious town of Wall, the beauty of Star/Yvaine, the evilness that appears when sudden beauty arrives, etc. These are nice incorporations. Where it fell down a bit is the overly long opening which was used to describe the goings-on around Wall, the addition of certain characters/parts in order to add the "blockbuster" talent (which wasn't all bad), and the on-again off-again seriousness that went a bit too far.
The biggest letdown for me was the main protagonist Tristan (Charlie Cox, CASANOVA). His role wasn't the most inspiring. Unfortunately neither was the beautiful Star/Yvaine (Claire Danes, THE FAMILY STONE). She played just well enough to keep me watching her, but that was about it. The supporting cast held my attention MUCH better. The wily old man who guards the entrance/exit to Wall (David Kelly, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY), the wickedly wicked witches  especially Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) who plays the part so over-the-top as to be delicious  and how could we forget Captain Shakespeare (Robert DeNiro, THE GOOD SHEPHERD), the flamboyant captain of a sky-ship who captures lightning like fish and keeps his cross-dressing secrets securely hidden in his closet. These supporting characters are what kept me engaged and they weren't what the story was about.
Comparisons aside, this is an okay film to check out, but don't let anyone fool you. This isn't The Princess Bride II.
For a better Gaiman adaption, try checking out MIRRORMASK.