Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageStardust (2007)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Synopsis
Based on the best-selling graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, 'Stardust' begins in a village in England and ends up in places that exist in an imaginary world. A young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) tries to win the heart of Victoria (Sienna Miller), the beautiful but cold object of his desire, by going on a quest to retrieve a fallen star. His journey takes him to a mysterious and forbidden land beyond the walls of his village. On his odyssey, Tristan finds the star, which has transformed into a striking girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes). However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. A king’s (Peter O’Toole) four living sons – not to mention the ghosts of their three dead brothers – all need the star as they vie for the throne. Tristan must also overcome the evil witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who needs the star to make her young again. As Tristan battles to survive these threats, encountering a pirate named Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) and a shady trader named Ferdy the Fence (Ricky Gervais) along the way, his quest changes. He must now win the heart of the star for himself as he discovers the meaning of true love.
Movie review
From Time Out London
There’s a lot of seductive qualities in this knowing, pomo, digitally assisted, widescreen, family oriented fairy tale.
It’s adapted with roistering glee by Matthew ‘Layer Cake’ Vaughn from Neil Gaiman’s cult comic-strip, a time-travelling fantasia with princely rivalry, piratical villains, chivalric romances, marvels, magical spells, mythical struggles and Hovis-ad English villages. It plays like a live-action riposte to ‘Shrek’. As if to compensate for carrying human baggage – sorry, actors – Vaughn throws everything at the screen he can. Castles in the sky and hovels on the ground come hurtling towards you courtesy of combined computer and visual effects. Before you settle into its amusingly generic ‘Victorian’ England setting (and the comforts of Ian McKellen’s velvety voice-over), you’re rocketed off on Google Earth-style journeys to the magical, mock-medieval, manically overdesigned virtual world of ‘Stormhold’, then back again to its teeming, independent microcosmics satellite hidden behind the olde village’s guarded stone wall. Like Gulliver’s puny captors or the ropes on Munchausen’s balloon-ship (which is quoted here), the film’s cast has the task of tethering its chaotic flights of fancy.
Charlie Cox, in naturalist register, makes a fist of the young, cambric-shirted hero – Tristan , charged with bringing back a fallen ‘star’ (which turns into an annoying Claire Danes) by his hiss-ably haughty love (tressed-to-kill Sienna Miller). But the rest – O’Toole, Pfeiffer, Gervais et al – wisely camp it up, with Robert De Niro out-camping everyone in a film-stealing turn as buckleswashing Captain Shakespeare. You could call it a cousin of ‘Time Bandits’ or ‘The Princess Bride’, but it lacks the former’s originality and the latter’s heart. No matter, little kids will like the miniature elephants herding in specimen bottles; this writer liked the futuristic gifts – plastic flowers!
Author: Wally Hammond
Time Out London Issue 1939: October 17-23 2007
User reviews of this film
-
- norma wright said...
- Posted on Nov 30 2007 20:37 Me and my mates are going to watch it tomoz so hope it is good! :) x
- Report as inappropriate
-
- norma said...
- Posted on Nov 30 2007 20:36 me and my mates are going to it tomorrow so hope it is good! :)
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Kimberley Whitehead said...
- Posted on Nov 30 2007 17:56 This is the best film i've seen this year. I love everything about it and i'm planning on going back to watch it again this week and taking my little brother. I am 27 and me and my partner who is a little older than me ;o) loved it!! Go and watch this film it's a must. And Charlie Cox looks gorgeous!! :o)
- Report as inappropriate
-
- hannah said...
- Posted on Nov 29 2007 19:46 me and my boyfriend are going to see it tomorrow i cant wait and now ive read this review i can't wait to see it even ore
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Zoe said...
- Posted on Nov 29 2007 11:36 Absolutely Brilliant !!!!!!!!! For All Ages.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Damian said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2007 17:03 I'm 26 year old male (not gay) and loved it!!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Dan Clinton said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2007 16:28 An excellent fantasy film, that should warm even the most cynical of hearts. Despite at its core being a soppy love story, which is at times a little too predictable, it has an excellent cast and script. The Special effects are breath-taking, but not so overdone as to make it a Micheal Bay style bore. The cast, especially the support cast make this film all the better. Robert De Niro delights as a camp pirate, Ricky Gervais gets several laughts for his short piece and even the ghostly brothers, including Greenwing's Dr Alan Statham (Mark Heap) and Mac (Julian Rhind-Tutt) make this a must see film.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- rach said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2007 15:50 very enjoyable and comicle
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Gillian Muirhead said...
- Posted on Nov 26 2007 11:59 This movie was simply magical! I loved every second and returned to watch the movie on 2 more times. Some would say superb. A big shout out to the tranent massive, love u all boma!!!!!!!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Becky said...
- Posted on Nov 25 2007 15:23 I loved this film - i dont think you can beat a bit of mushy fantasy! I would say its for the older generation but definately a watch for the kids
- Report as inappropriate
-
- angus said...
- Posted on Nov 25 2007 12:59 I'd give it six turds!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- ... said...
-
Posted on Nov 25 2007 12:46
HELLO PEOPLE
WHEN YOU REVIEW THIS MAKE SURE YOU GIVE IT A CERTAIN NO. OF STARS BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE SAY ITS BRILLIANT AND THEN GIVE IT ZERO STARS BECUASE THEY'VE OBVIOUSLY FORGOTTEN SO IT STARDUST ONLY HAS 4 STARS OUT OF 6 WHEN IT SHOULD DEFINATELY HAVE 6 OUT OF 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Report as inappropriate
-
- angus said...
-
Posted on Nov 24 2007 21:39
'This film was excellent ~ took my 9yr old'
Yup - just about the right age group for this truly dire film! - Report as inappropriate
-
- Elle said...
- Posted on Nov 24 2007 16:17 My friend and i went to see it, i liked it better than my friend, the beginning was a bit long winded, but the rest was excellent!!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- georgia said...
- Posted on Nov 22 2007 19:07 im going to whatch i for my friends birthday so ill tell you soon
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole, Jason Flemyng, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais, Ian McKellen full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Rated: PG
Duration: 130 mins
UK Release: Oct 19 2007
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now