Simply fabulous!

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2008)

*********Quite Minor Spoilers******** Warning ahead of time - this is one of the (very small) handful of movies where I have not yet read the novel upon which it is based! Okay, on to the review! This movie has been called one of the sleeper hits of 2007, most likely because it didn't get near the promotion it (richly) deserved. Imagine my surprise to visit the IMDb page to find such a well-deserved high rating! Definitely brightened my day.
So let me tell you why I think this movie is fabulous. With such a-list actors, you knew the performances were going to be stellar (no pun intended ;), but they exceeded even my lofty expectations. The soundtrack was wonderful, and though the F/X left a teensy bit to be desired, they were far better than many other films I've seen. The story was quite original and moved along briskly - even though there were some slightly slow points, they were filled with rich emotion, and by the end of the movie, you'll know exactly what Clair Danes meant in her lengthy scene on love.
Now, why didn't I give this a '10'? Well, for starters, I don't hand out the highest rating but sparingly. For second, there were two specific things I did not particularly enjoy. For one, when the goat-turned-landlord was turned permanently (and probably lethally) back into a goat, when the body hit the floor (for which we are gifted with a close-up), it is OBVIOUSLY a mannequin. I don't know if this was to absolutely satisfy the rather alarming organization known as PETA, but it did not even bend as it hit the floor, as though the goat was made of wood.
As for my last complaint, as I said, I have not yet read the book, but somehow I doubt it contained a cross-dressing, rather....(light-wristed, shall we say?) pirate. I'm sure there were far more interesting things cut from the book that could have been used in place of this...this...polite words fail me. All I can say is, I felt Robert DeNiro was sadly utilized in this manner. For a few minutes of the film, I was sharply reminded of his role in "Meet the Parents", and this was certainly undesirable.
However, other than those two small mishaps, this is one of my new favorite fantasy films of all time, a few steps below the LotR trilogy, and slightly above the first Harry Potter (the first was great, the second was decent, but the rest are trash). This film is indeed wonderfully magical, and something my heart, jaded from far too many book-to-movie Hollywood disasters, sorely needed.