Sitting in the movie theatre, lights at half-mast for the pre-show proceedings, I occasionally reach a moment of panic. Right around the third preview, I begin to worry that the movie I have probably paid too much money to see will fail me, that it will turn out to be a disastrous folly filled with poor acting, worse direction and an incomprehensible plot line. I experienced one of these moments this weekend as I prepared to watch “Stardust,” a film adaptation of one of Neil Gaiman’s novels. A preview for some film executive’s warped idea of “Beowulf” was flitting across the screen, making me wish that all those involved in the making of that film could be sent back to medieval times as a punishment.
However, when the lights dimmed and the feature began, my initial concerns were swept away. “Stardust” is a combination of all the best qualities of the fantasy genre. Like “The Lord of the Rings,” it feels epic in scope, but like “The Princess Bride,” it doesn’t feel the need to take itself too seriously. There is plenty of magic and romance, and the swashbuckling fight scenes will make you wish that the makers of “Pirates of the Caribbean” could have taken a cue from these guys.
Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox) is a young shop boy who dreams of greater things, or, more accurately, he is a young dreamer who just happens to be a shop boy. When he sees a shooting star fall down to earth, he decides that he will find it and bring it back to his hometown of Wall in hopes of winning the heart of a girl who hardly sees him as marriage potential. Little does Tristan know that his quest for the fallen star will lead him into a magical and dangerous world that will transform his life forever.
The star, in fact, has transformed into a beautiful young girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes), who is quite unhappy with Tristan when he decides to capture her and bring her back to Wall. Yvaine, however, is safer in Tristan’s hands than in the hands of those who seek her out for their own dark purposes. Three princes seek the star in order to determine who will be the next king, and a very wicked witch indeed named Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) desires the star’s heart in order to make herself young again. Tristan and Yvaine must work together to avoid dangerous traps and deceptive strangers along their journey, and in doing so discover that they were destined for things they had never thought possible.
A story like this, with multitudes of characters and several plot lines braided together, could have been a mess in lesser hands. Yet, and much credit must be given to Gaiman here, the storytelling in “Stardust” is deft, with a well-earned sense of urgency behind each narrative.
In addition to this urgency, though, there is a gleeful sense of absurdity that runs throughout the film, acknowledging the fact that the tale is fantastical, and making it all the better for such an acknowledgment. Robert De Niro makes a brilliant and hilarious appearance as a cross-dressing pirate called “Captain Shakespeare,” both for his love of theatrics and his crew’s belief that he is saying, “shake” (grunt) “spear!” Cox is devastatingly charming as Tristan, and Danes is surprisingly good in a role I expected her to be unsuited for. As beautiful as Michelle Pfeiffer is, she has a face made for evil, and she clearly had a great time playing Lamia in one of her first film roles after a five-year hiatus from acting.
Despite a few corny lines and syrupy moments near the end of the film, “Stardust” is quite an achievement in filmmaking. The pacing is excellent and the cinematography is interesting and varied. Director Matthew Vaughn and crew somehow manage to suspend all disbelief and take their audience on an extraordinary, whimsical adventure. Maybe they know a bit of magic themselves.
