Excellent Fantasy Adventure

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2008)

Stardust is a fairy story, where good triumphs over evil and the hero eventually wins the girl. The film's most appreciative audience is likely to be children between the ages of 8 and 12 however it was officially rated a PG-13 partly for its "risqué humor" and Yahoo suggested the film was suitable for an audience of 14 and up. This probably explains why the film only took $39 million at the U.S. box office. It deserved to do better.
Stardust takes places in a magical world called Stormhold. Charlie Cox is very good as the hero and Claire Danes is execellent as the love interest. De Niro plays a cross-dressing pirate called Captain Shakespeare. Michele Pfeiffer plays an evil witch and gives an over the top performances worthy of British pantomime. The supporting cast includes a long list of British acting notables including Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais, Rupert Everett and Peter O'Toole. Everybody hams it up outrageously. The direction is slick, the script witty and the film looks expensive. It's very enjoyable.