A Spectacularly Entertaining Piece of Fairy Tale Fantasy

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2008)

'Stardust' was a splendid watch. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it turned out to be. To me, it seemed like just another passable fantasy flick but 'Stardust' is a lot more than one might expect. It is a fairy tale about a fallen star and a young boy. Vaughn's direction is solid. The visuals are fascinating, even though sometimes the CGI is obvious. The cinematography is stunning and the soundtrack is beautiful. The writing is commendable and the dialogues are fine.
Comparisions might be made with 'Lord of The Rings'. While I did not like Peter Jackson's movie as much as others did, I throughly enjoyed 'Stardust'. However, 'Stardust' too has its share of flaws. I thought the ending (in spite of some humorous moments) was a little dragged on and gave the film a fluffy touch. The American actors act very well but some of them lose the British accent at times (at one point Michelle Pfeiffer pronounces the 'r') but this is a very very minor case and the reason why I mention it is because it was something I noticed. This minor point does not make me like the film any less but the unnecessarily stretched ending somewhat does.
'Stardust' boasts of a stellar cast that comprises of both British and American talents. The luminous Claire Danes and the naive Charlie Cox have the right chemistry and look convincing on screen. Danes is literally and metaphorically the star of the film. Michelle Pfeiffer springs a surprise performance as the evil villainess. It's great to see her after a long time, that too in a completely different role which she effortlessly pulls off. Robert De Niro too springs a surprise. I won't say much about him because that would be ruining the fun. Let me just say this much that perhaps one will never look at Mr. De Niro the same way. Notice the welcoming cameos that include a magnificent Peter O'Toole, a funnily odd Dexter Fletcher, a hilarious Ricky Gervais and a pitiful Rupert Everett.
There are so many wonderfully shot scenes. I particularly liked the pre-climax scene where Yvaine is approaching towards the wall and the camera switches back and forth to the different characters. The cinematography and music add power to that key scene. Of course there are many other such great scenes but this was one I freshly remembered. The scenes between Tristan and Yvaine are quite nice and fun and thankfully they are not overly sugarcoated (except in the end). The light comedy is quite cleverly put and special thanks to De Niro and his pirates, the 6 (?) ghosts and Gervais for pulling them off.
On the whole, 'Stardust' is a wonderful film. As stated earlier, i would have liked it more had the ending been a little crisp. Nonetheless, it felt like two hours well spent and I recommend it to those who enjoy original fantasies.