Stardust

Stardust is a mostly enjoyable fantasy film with a jokey, contemporary spin. Almost every review I've seen or read compares it to the Princess Bride, and that's an accurate assessment, but Stardust takes it's fantasy core more seriously than the earlier picture, but still lightens things up with droll humor to keep the non-fantasy fans from rolling their eyes too much.

The film is based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, and was co-written by director Matthew Vaughn. I was impressed by how the script managed to keep so many plot plates spinning, without becoming confusing. It's a difficult story to summarize, but here goes:

In 19th-century England, there is a small village called Wall, named for a stone wall that the villagers are forbidden to transverse. On the other side is a parallel kingdom called Stormhold, which has all the fairy-tale cliches. Their king, played in a cameo by Peter O'Toole, has seven sons, and they must kill each other off, the last one remaining will be heir to the throne (this was a fun to scene to watch because it reminded me of O'Toole in The Lion in Winter). The last remaining price must also come in possession of a magic gem, which O'Toole lets loose into the heavens, where it knocks a star loose, sending it plummeting to Earth. Turns out stars in the universe of Stormhold are humanoid, because when it lands it is in the form of Claire Danes, and she has the gem.

The princes aren't the only ones who must track down Danes. A trio of witches (MacBeth, anyone?) need to ingest the heart of a fallen star to remain eternally youthful. One of the witches, Michelle Pfeiffer (in the second villainous role I've seen her play this month) is dispatched to retrieve Danes. Now, that's all background for the main story, which involves a young man from the village, who has promised the girl he loves that he will retrieve the fallen star to prove his love for her. Got all that?

There are more twists along the way, including a very funny cameo by Ricky Gervais, and an appearance by Robert De Niro as a pirate, Captain Shakespeare. Turns out the good Captain is, well, let's just say he's effete. I got a little uncomfortable in my seat watching the man who played Jake LaMotta and Don Vito Corleone mincing, and I don't think I ever want to see that again. It's one of the few places where the film goes over the top to the point of silliness. For the rest of the film, the envelope is pushed, but manages to contain itself without being too broad.

I especially liked a chorus of ghosts, the spirits of the princes as they are offed, one by one, who provide funny repartee as they comment on the action. Danes is appropriately luminous in her role, and gamely tries a working-class English accent, although it's not clear why a celestial body would speak as if she were from Whitechapel.

This film opened to pretty dismal box office, and that's too bad, because it deserves better. I hope it finds more viewers on DVD.