by Nicholas Cockayne

Created on: December 03, 2007

'Stardust' is the story of Tristan Thorne's quest to bring back a star for his lady love Victoria in order to win her hand in marriage. A simple task, yet with problematic complications. Unfortunately for Tristan the falling star in question happens to have landed across the Wall, in the fairytale realm of Stormhold, a fantastical place where unicorns roam, witches stalk, and cross dressing flying pirate captains mince wildly.

Yes, that's right, Stormhold is a unpredictable land which throws up many obstacles in Tristan's path, not least of which is the fact the star is not simply a lump of cold rock, but a living person, and one in a bad temper at that, Yvaine. So begins a story in which Tristan is to find his true love in the least expected of places, inherit his true birthright, fight witches, learn swordplay, get a make over from a pirate captain, and (oddly enough) grow long proper adventurous looking hair (well adventurous hair extensions anyway).

As so often happens when a film is based on a book I love (and I love none more than Neil Gaimen's books) I was truly apprehensive about how it would turn out; there is nothing worse than watching what is not only a bad film, but a bad film that ruins a good book too. Happily this is not the case with Stardust.

Boasting an all star cast, if you look closely even the background characters are all stars of film, tv, or comedy, the acting in this film was never going to be at fault. In fact it can at times become a game of spot the celebrity, competing with friends to see how can recognise the most stars beneath the make up.

In the lead role Charlie Cox plays a convincing Tristan, managing to be likeable, wide eyed, and determined in all the right places, and seems to be genuinely having fun with his role which really comes across. The excellent Claire Danes as Yvaine is exquisitely pouty, argumentative, and heart melting, a difficult combination demanded by the role, but one she manages to deliver with definite style. It's impossible not to mention Michelle Pfeiffer as the utterly evil witch Lamia, who puts in a great and enthusiastic performance that rarely spills over into self parody. To be honest I'm not a fan of Pfeiffer's work, but she manages to steal almost every scene she's in with just her immense screen presence.

Likewise putting in a grand and memorable performance is De Niro as Captain Shakespeare, a flying pirate with a violent reputation who is secretly a closet cross dresser and Anglophile. Despite

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>