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New fairytales are surely dangerous territory for big film studio's to venture into. Stardust has overcome that hurdle by recruiting an 'A' list cast.
Having taken that leap of faith, a production of great merit is the result. The triumph of which must be the understated, tongue in cheek delivery by the principles, even the Americans. Robert De Niro way out of his comfort zone does a particulaly good job.
Its like a 'Princess Bride', with a big budget. And in that league as well. Enjoy.

Boring
I was given this movie to watch while I was recovering in hospital. It was boring as hell. I didn't get it so I tried watching it again. It still makes no sense to me.

Don't waste your money on this garbage.

Dazzling
Quite frankly, I adore this movie. I adore it. I love it. I have not enough words to sing its praises. Adults and children alike will love it.

Neil Gaiman is a fantastic and inventive story teller and his imaginative tales lend themselves well to the big screen - so long as handled correctly. Happily, this film not only handles it correctly but I feel in places even adds to the book. The screen writers have done that rare thing - they have successfully made alterations to a book to make it fit for the big screen while still absolutely capturing the essence and joy of the story. I don't think anybody who's read the book can complain about how the movie's been realised even though they have departed from the story in various places.

Captain Shakespeare is a particularly perfect addition - Robert DeNiro can do comedy just as well as drama and is probably the funniest character in the film. Fresh face Charlie Cox makes a winning and instantly likable hero, Claire Danes as ever puts in a great turn, and Michelle Pfeiffer makes an absolutely fabulous villain. The whole cast are clearly having a ball and everything from the sets to the costumes is on point - the whole thing is beautifully shot. The jokes are swift and funny, the story compelling, and as per the tag line this is definitely the fairy tale that won't behave.

Quite frankly, I can't see it would be possible to dislike this movie. It's great family fun but with a lot for the adults too - even people who don't have kids will enjoy watching this

Delightful family film based on Neil Gaiman's book
Many excellent books have been turned into disappointing films, and quite a few into good films which equal or come close to matching the book. But I can count on the fingers of one hand the films based on books as good as Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" which actually surpass the book. This is one of them.

Neil Gaiman himself was joint Producer with Director/screenwriter Matthew Vaughn, and they worked with an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Clare Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Ian McKellern, Peter O'Toole, and Ricky Gervais to produce a marvellous famly adventure.

After a brief reference to a letter arriving at the Royal Society which places the action in the 19th century, the story begins in the sleepy English village of Wall, a quiet and totally normal place except for the structure from which it takes its name, which is a wall between our world and Faerie. Most of the time the villagers maintain a watch on the one gap in that wall to stop people passing through in either direction, but once a year there is a carnival just inside Faerie which people from our side are allowed to attend.

Ben Barnes plays the young Dunstan Thorn, a villager who visits that fair, and on one of the stalls he meets a beautiful girl (Kate Magowan) who has been enslaved by an evil gypsy magician. They spend some time together and she gives him a glass flower as a gift before he returns to wall: nine months later he gets another present in the form of a basket containing their newborn baby, the infant Tristan Thorn.

About twenty years later, Tristan has grown into a handsome lad, played by Charlie Cox, who is something of a daydreamer and hopelessly in love with a beautiful village girl called Victoria (Sienna Miller).

Tristan is one of two rival suitors for Victoria's hand. After they watch a shooting star fall to earth on the far side of the wall, Tristan tries to demonstrate his devotion by promising to fetch it for her. He tricks his way past the guard at the wall, and heads after the fallen star.

However, the fallen star was knocked out of the sky for a particular reason. In Faerie a dying king (Peter O'Toole) has summoned his four surviving sons (Jason Flemyng, Mark Heap, Rupert Everett, and Mark Strong) to decide who will succeed him. So he throws the jewel which denotes the rightful ruler of Stormhold into the sky, where it brings down a star, advises his sons that whichever son of the line of Stormhold retrieves the star will be his successor.

When the star falls to earth, she appears as a beautiful woman called Yvaine (Clare Danes) with the royal jewel of Stormhold round her neck, and there are several people searching for her. Dunstan wants to take her to his sweetheart, the surviving sons of the old king want the jewel, and she is also pursued by the evil and very powerful witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer). Lamia is running out of life force/magical energy which she can renew if she cuts out the heart of a living star. So Yvaine is in great danger ...

Where the book is bit dark and adult in places, the film is a delightful story which will suit adults and children alike - there are a few scary bits but nothing which most small children will be unable to handle, and there is a lot of humour, some pitched at adults and some aimed at everyone but all of it in good taste.

In general the film is very true to the book, but a few things have been added. There is a scene where Yvaine and Dunstan find themselves in the sky and are rescued by a flying ship which is collecting lightning bolts. In the book this is a relatively short interlude, but in this film this has been developed into a marvellous sub-story in which the master of the flying ship, Captain Shakespeare, played brilliantly by Robert de Niro, pretends to be a ruthless pirate but has a secret. Ricky Gervase has an amusing cameo just after this as "Ferdy the Fence."

The ending has also been completely reworked from Neil Gaiman's original novel, with a very dramatic climax which will come as a "surprise ending" for anyone who has read the book. If you are interested both in reading the book and watching the film, I would advise you to tackle the book first: the ending of the book may seem anticlimatic if you have previously seen the film.

Acting is excellent throughout, particularly Charlie Cox and Clare Danes who were both very successful as the main lead characters, while Michelle Pfieffer and Mark Strong were both superb as two of the most sinister villains in the film. Rupert Everitt was rather wasted as a prince who is murdered almost immediately after being introduced.

Special effects were magnificent. There is a good section on many versions of this DVD about how they were made.

Overall this was a fantastic film enjoyable for adults and children alike and I strongly recommend it.

tremendous special effects,battleaxe witches,sword fights,chases on horseback,a pirate ship flying through the air - a must see!
From the point of view of an adult this film has lots of flaws - perhaps too long and the humour wasn't so great and the love story a bit unconvincing.But for children it is something of a wonder with tremendous special effects,battleaxe witches,sword fights,chases on horseback,a pirate ship that flies through the air,palaces and cities built on towering mountain peaks ( much of the scenery is scottish), and mystery and mayhem all over the place.
The last twenty minutes or so is great whatever your age:one of the best fight sequences I've ever seen on film.

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