Stardust Reviews

Simple the worst film ever

Simple the worst film ever! Narnia, Lord of the Rings are so much better! What was DeNiro thinking off! Don’t waste your money and time on it! Simple awful! There are no words to describe how bad this movie is! I don’t know what movie the people who have written reviews so far saw but it wasn’t Stardust.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Brilliant stardust...

Sometimes you can put the greatest talent you can find together in any film and things just don't gel, this is a fantasy film and has double the possible pitfals. But there is no doubting this is an absolute wonderous movie, a true gem that deserves to be a classic for years to come. Just everything about this, from the superbly camped up acting of Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer to the stunning visuals and storyline, are absolutely perfect. It is Fantasy-tastic, a complete picture, highly entertaining and a definate recommendation.

[Highly rated reviewer]

THIS STAR STUDDED MOVIE OUT SHINES THE REST

I went to see this with my nine year old daughter expecting the worst.

I wanted to see the Halloween remake, but seeing I was restricted to nothing above a certificate 12A I was limited.

What can I say..... this is what the terrible pairates 3 and the shoddy none event that was Shrek 3 should have been !

As a so-called adult I usualy go for the harder stuff , but this was very well written and very funny.

The film used what many big movies failed to use this year, and that was imagination. Every second is brilliant.

As a parent, this film out-classes Narnia. Please go see this as it is that good I have managed to get my daughter to let me see it again.

this is a Fantastic film !

A little piece of magic

When I went to see Stardust, I had limited expectations but I was to be very pleasantly surprised. With a return to wicked form by Pfeiffer and a fabulously camp De Niro, you could almost fail to give credit to the rest of the cast's formidable contribution. The only real disappointment was Gervais whose cameo just felt like David Brent in pantomime clothing - could that be his future?

Beyond the quality of the acting, the film has plenty to interest all ages with :

1) a cracking storyline (I don't want to give too much away but there's love interest, sibling rivalry, scheming vanity, quests to be completed - everything you'd expect from a comprehensive fairytale);

2) impressive but not over-dominating special effects;

3) awesome scenery (filmed on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, and in Iceland);

4) and a soundtrack that is slightly reminiscent of the quieter, contemplative phases in LoTR.

If you enjoyed the Princess Bride, this has a similar feel - but it's better all-round. Better storyline, better cast, better acting, better effects ... It's certainly a DVD I'll be adding to my list of films to watch when I need an engaging, well-constructed piece of escapism.

Lame

Not quite sure where all the glowing reviews have come from. I'm amazed this seems to have done so well as not only is it a botched mess of a film which borders on being unwatchable in some places, it is also violent enough to alienate what would otherwise be it's core target audience of young children.

I give it 2 stars as there are a handful of moderately entertaining set-pieces, but you can trace pretty much any scene back to a book you've previously read or a film you've seen before.

The acting, for the most part is awful. I have rarely encountered such an uninteresting pair of leads as Chris Cox and Clare Danes and so I just didn't care what happened to them or have any emotional investment in the story. Cox starts off as a poor-man's Hugh Grant and by the end of the film has become an even less-charismatic Orlando Bloom.

In short this is probably best if you've got kids aged between 8-14 and want to keep them distracted for a couple of hours. Trying to watch this in an analytical way won't reward, just frustrate, as it is clear that the basis of a good film was there (probably by staying closer to the book - which I haven't read btw, just specualting), but it's lost in an ocean of schmaltz, cheese, stupidity and nonsense.

The new Christmas movie!

I wasn't expecting much when my friend suggested we go and see this film, but I came away thinking that I had been totally caught off guard. It is one of those films that you are going to switch on the TV for on Christmas day in years to come, sit down with the family after a hearty dinner and enjoy this fairy story with mass appeal on a number of levels. All the actors are great and it has so much going for it. I could have gone back and watched it all again it was that good. Potter's okay, LOTR is epic, but this has something the others don't. I'll shut up now...just promise me you'll go and see it!

Catch A falling Star

But not this one. Mess of a movie . Good actors hamming it up badly. Two leads who could not even rise to that level. The effects were Ok but nothing earthshaking. Shame because I wanted to like it..

stardust

this is shockingly bad, appalling direction, lousy script, generic music playing all the time to no real effect, terrible acting - Sienna Miller get a day job!

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Stardust - A dream of a film

I went to see this with my 2 kids and my mother, looking for a couple of hours of pure escapism and this film ABSOLUTELY delivered.

The journey from the real world to the world on the other side of the Wall (fence) is something, i am sure, everyone has an image of and everyone, whatever age, at some point has lay on the ground and gazed up at the stars and imagined them watching us, am i wrong??? This film just draws on all of our imaginings and encompasses them completely.

The casting was perfection. The legend that is Robert deNiro was his usual scene stealing self(with a twist), Michelle Pfieffer was fantastically evil and funny, Sienna Miller was great at being ghastly to poor Charlie Cox's Tristan, who himself was a first rate leading man who you thought had been around for years.

We all came away from it discussing our with favourite scenes(Septimus & Tristans fight, Tristan trying to catch the carriage ride), favourite lines (Tristan to Victoria 'Grow up and get over yourself') and the special visual effects which were stunning (we cheered at Gervais' demise, not a fan)

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone or everyone, whether you believe in fairytales, witches, pirates and fallen stars, or not!!

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Enjoyable fantasy adventure

Having recently seen the messy and confusing “The Golden Compass” at the cinema it was a relief to watch Stardust on DVD .Here is a fantasy movie with clearly delineated characters, memorable villains , likable good guys/gals and a plot that you don’t need a PHD in Pullmanology to understand.

Though the story like “The Golden Compass is based on a book -this time by Neil Gaimin -the screenplay by director Matthew Vaughn and writer Jane Goldman( Goldman was brought in to work on the romance aspect of the story which Vaughn wasn’t comfortable with) is coherent , well structured and doesn’t miss out great swathes of the narrative (or if it does it does it in such a way you can still understand what is going on) The ending has apparently been changed (I haven’t read the book but other reviews here point this out often) from the bittersweet one of the book to a more conventional fairytale happy ending which is a shame but importantly doesn’t feel badly misjudged.

Set in a town in 19th century rural England in a town called “Wall” young Tristan Miller (Charlie Cox) lives alone with his father Dunstan (Nathaniel Parker) What he doesn’t know is that he is the progeny of a union between his father and a girl from a magical land that exists the other side of the wall that runs parallel to the town and is guarded by an ever present vigilant townsperson (David Kelly) Charlie is more pre-occupied with his love for the flighty and vain Victoria (Sienna Miller) so much so that one night after they see a falling star land the other side of the wall he vows he will bring it back to her within seven days so in exchange she will marry him.

Getting past the guard he finds in the centre of the crash crater a girl Yvaine(Claire Danes) who it turns out is the fallen star. Charlie has a magic candle that can help Yviane regain her place in the heavens and he agrees to help her if she will come with him to the wall so he can show her to Victoria . They don’t get on at first , bickering constantly but events are happening elsewhere which will bring them closer together.

It seems Yvaines was brought to earth by the king Of Stromboli (Peter O,Toole)because of the ruby she has on the chain round her pretty neck He is dying and has decided whoever of his numerous sons gets his rapacious hands on the ruby will be his successor. This are a viscous lot , quite prepared to kill each other to get their own way with the worst being the scowling (Mark Strong) .The ghosts of his already departed siblings hang around commentating on current events unable to pass over till the heir has been decided.

Meanwhile three elderly witches also have their beady eyes on the ruby, for it is the key to them regaining their youth and beauty. Lamia( Michelle Pfeiffer) is chosen to retrieve the object but has to revert to her youthful state to do so. When she uses her magic however, it erodes her young-looking splendour so slowly she starts to crumble to her old wizened self.

The whole things rattles along entertainingly with some terrific set pieces. Only the intervention of some aeronautical pirates led by (Robert De Niro) drags the film awry .Some will love his prancing dichotomous character and he does a terrific job of playing him , but I felt the film lost its momentum while the pirates were on screen. In a risible piece of stunt casting Ricky Gervias pops up as a mercantile blabbermouth and basically plays his usual slippery self.

A thoroughly enjoyable if rather light weight movie but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’d much rather watch a badly made fantasy film than a badly made art house film any day of any week. Happily this is a very well made engaging fantasy film. Now if only somebody could put together a darker broodier fantasy film ( George R R Martins “A Game Of Thrones” or Robin Hobbs “Assassins Apprentice” spring to mind) and both ends of the fantasy spectrum would be well and truly covered.