Stardust

Rating: If this movie doesn’t make you smile you have No Soul.
Important to know: Not particularly loyal to the book, but I didn’t mind.
For the Gamer Chicks: Favorite fantasy elements abound, several female characters central to the story.

Poor Tristan Thorne. He’s pale and awkward, he’s just gotten fired from his job in a shop, the girl of his dreams thinks he’s a dork, he has no idea his dad is cool, or that his mom came from the land of Faerie. In other words, he’s a classic fantasy Hero-In-The-Making.

Stardust takes its main plot points from the Neil Gaiman novel upon which it is based, wisely recognizes it doesn’t have the time to tell the whole story in the book (“no, will take too long, let me sum up”) and only makes a few missteps on its way to telling a truly enjoyable story.

Thus: a star has fallen from the heavens. Well, not fallen, more like got knocked down, but that’s neither here nor there, unless you’re Ivainne (Claire Danes) then you’re righteously indignant at your current earthbound status and in danger for your life; all that stands between you and evil witches and murderous princes is a pale, awkward boy (Charlie Cox) from the human kingdom of England. Don’t worry though, Ian McKellan is narrating his life, and he swears the boy will become a man, hopefully in time to save you.

He won’t become a man on his own though. He’ll need lessens in fencing and general badassery from a flying (and FABULOUS) pirate captain Robert DeNiro. He’ll need to go head-to-head with a vicious witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who wants to eat your heart, and he’ll have to find out the truth about his family and his destiny. Hollywood wants him to become a man so much; they even cast actors who look like they could be related as his family!

And of course, he’ll also need love, which comes from someplace unexpected to him, but blatantly obvious to the audience.

The cast is full of “Hey-it’s-that-guy!” actors, and Peter O’Toole! I cannot tell you how fantastic that man is, he does more in this movie in five minutes, without ever leaving his bed than some actors can do in two hours. DeNiro especially is so laugh-out-loud funny you forgive the rough spots. Tristan is a hero you can root for; his wonder at the things he sees is refreshing.

Along the way things get a little bogged down (the movie is shooting for Princess Bride but occasionally ventures more toward Lord of the Rings territory) but a lot of humor and sweetness keeping it going. The music is amazing, the special effects well used and convincing, and as fantasy movies go, this one is lovely to watch.

If I missed anything from the book, it was the three-dimensional female characters. In the movie, Ivainne gets to do some heavy lifting, but the Witch, Tristan’s mother, and his dream girl are all reduced to one-note characters. The actresses are great, but in a movie where the guys get to do all the growing and changing, they ring a bit false.