Lackluster fare a la "THE PRINCESS BRIDE" ; Pfeiffer steals the show

Rating: 6/10 (14 August 2007)

STARDUST (2007) ** Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Sienna Miller, Peter O' Toole, Jason Flemyng, Sarah Alexander, Joanna Scanlan, Ricky Gervais (Narrator: Ian McKellen) Spotty adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel by filmmaker Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman tweaking the fairy telling genre with a young man (vanilla bland Cox) who attempts to retrieve a falling star for his beloved (Miller) but winds up with a young woman (Danes, channeling Gwyneth Paltrow), who indeed is the star but is more trouble than she is worth when a coven of witches desire her heart to replenish their youth and evil ways. A grim Grimm fairy tale with a contemporary flair not unlike "THE PRINCESS BRIDE" but without its simplistic charms, the film tries way too hard and in spite of a gamely fierce turn by Pfeiffer as the lead witch, it sputters by its lackluster ending.