Stardust

New to DVD this holiday season is the release of Stardust, the adventure fantasy film from director Matthew Vaughn.

The basic plot of the film sees a young man making a promise to the girl he loves to return a falling star to prove his devotion. The only catch is that it’s landed on the other side of "the wall", a wall which legend has it borders our world from a magical one. The adventure begins, and it doesn’t mess about in doing so, you’re thrown in head-first and in doing so have no choice other than to be absorbed and utterly engrossed.

For many readers here, the cast will be a mix of the very famous (Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes), and a mix of unknowns. Our British readers will recognise a great many more of the faces from various TV series and comedies on our side of The Pond. This mix is one of the key draws to the film in my own opinion, some of the major characters are played by actors many people will be unfamiliar with, and this unfamiliarity coupled with some excellent performances mean that the viewer isn’t pre-loaded with what kind of character to expect from the actor. I doubt there’s anyone who would have expected Robert De Niro to play the character he does in this film!

Stardust2

It’s a beautiful film to look at, both worlds in it are wonderfully realised and totally believable. The visual effects are kept to a minimum where possible, but obviously with it being a fantasy film, expect some lavish creativity. In many ways this is a real throwback in terms of the ways this genre of film is made nowadays, those of you old enough to remember when such fantasy gems as The Princess Bride, Krull or Legend came out will be over the moon. Stardust is a proper family film, there’s plenty in there to keep all generations laughing, albeit not for the same reasons some of the time. For those with little ones worried about violence or gore of any kind, there’s really nothing to speak of. Perhaps just one scene where some witches ‘read’ the entrails of an animal, but even then we don’t witness the act and there’s no blood involved. The only time blood is spilled in the whole film, it happens to be royal blood, and fittingly enough is blue. Some scenes could still be deemed a little scary for the very young though.

Fans of the book by Neil Gaiman need not worry, this film really does the original story justice, and carry it off in a very polished manner. Claire Danes manages a very believable English accent throughout the two hours, Robert De Niro will have you laughing with his non-typecast role and Sir Ian McKellen has the perfect story-telling voice to play the narrator. Ricky Gervais pops his head up and despite basically just playing "Ricky Gervais" is a welcome addition. The perfect film for those cold, dark winter evenings, huddled up on the sofa, remembering how charming a well-made fantasy tale can be.

Buy it now from the BBM Store

Tsdadam gives Stardust a BBM Review rating of….