There are few films you can see with a child which are immensely entertaining for adults as well. Released in 2007 I’d never heard of ‘Stardust’ and seeing it last night think it is vastly underrated.
With a cast including people like Robert de Niro, Peter O’Toole, Ruper Everett, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ricky Gervais, and Claire Danes you might suspect that it is unusual to appeal to such a diverse crowd of actors.
Stardust, the film, on Amazon
Like the first Shrek this film takes a lot of the conventions around fantasy/sword and sorcery and turns them totally upside down in a hilarious way. Nothing is predictable and half the characters you expect to come out on top are dead by the end of the film. If you think you’ve seen every plot device in the fantasy genre this film will make you think again.
Visually beautiful with excellent special effects it is however the characters and dialogue that really sparkle. Why is it that films based on well-written books are often so much better than those that are not?
And despite the wonderful performance of Michelle Pfeiffer as the uber-witch there is nothing that is likely to really frighten the under-eights and everything there to delight your teenagers and yourself.
It’s difficult to understand how such a great film could be so obscure compared to the more pallid recent child-friendly offerings like Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Horton Hears a Who, Spy School etc etc.
I saw it on Foxtel and the programme guide described it as:
“in a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he’ll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm.”
With such a description (which appears on IMDB as well) I can’t even imagine why I recorded it… And if that’s the tagline it was marketed with perhaps that helps explain why such a great gem is so obscure.
Oh, and of course, with a title like “Stardust” it sounds like a high school muscial!
So little time, so much dodgy marketing.
For more in the way of spoilers (and for this film it really matters because there is a lot to surprise you in it) take a look at IMDB or Amazon.
This article filed under the following 'Interest' categories (click category for more) Reviews, Unanswerable questions
Article posted by @Drivelry on February 6, 2009
Filed under topics (click for more articles on that topic): film review, stardust