To those outside the world of comic books, Neil Gaiman is a name that would raise few eyebrows. As a novelist and comic book writer, he has stayed largely outside of the realm of Hollywood. Last year featured the release of two of his biggest movie projects to date. He co-wrote the screenplay for Beowulf and saw his the film adaptation of Stardust finally hit theaters across the globe.
Even though I would go so far as to claim myself a fan of Gaiman’s work, I had never read Stardust. I went into the film only knowing that Matthew Vaughn had left the 3rd X-Men film and decided to make this movie instead. After finishing the movie, I think he made a wise decision (if you guess that I was not a fan of X-Men 3, then give yourself a gold star.)
Before I continue I think it should be mention that if you saw a preview for the movie during its theatrical run then you probably still have no idea what the film is like. In our current age of cinema, recent fantasy films have been epic tales about the fate of the world, all played to complete seriousness. Stardust is a movie that adds a bit of humor, sometimes very dark humor, to the traditional mix of witches, princes, and heroes. Lately, when a movie has resorted to that tactic it can easily be passed off as a kids movie, which I can certainly say that Stardust is not.
The film gives us the basic fantasy premise with all the trimmings: An eager young hero (Charlie Cox), a beautiful heroine naive to the danger that stalks her (Claire Danes), a powerful witch craving youth (Michelle Pfeiffer), and a dark prince willing to do anything to claim his throne (Mark Strong.) If you know your storytelling then I am willing to bet you have a good idea on how it all works out in the end. Knowing endings is nothing knew, and in fantasy, much like other genres, it is all about how you get there. This is where Stardust throws in some quirks like… a one night stand, encouraged (and comically celebrated) fratricide, and a twist on the stereotypical Sea Captain archetype.
But what is it about? You have a small stone wall separating two towns. On one side is a real-world, quaint English village, aptly named Wall. On the other side is a bustling world of fantasy known as Stormhold. One night, a shooting star passes over the sky, and sets in a motion a race by three people, each with their own reason to get their hands on the fallen celestial prize. Two of the people dwell within Stormhold, and the other is a young man from the village who has more of a connection with the land on the other side than he may know. Who will reach the star? What is the star? Why do they need the star? What… do you really want me to ruin it?
After I had reached the end of the tale and people were off living happily ever after, I found myself quite satisfied with what I had seen. I thought the movie managed to juggle being fun, sweet, and dark quite nicely. Its rather simple story moves along at a very brisk pace, and even tries its best to throw in some twists and turns to make you think that perhaps this is that one time that things won’t work out in the end. The idea of an adventure being just beyond a wall is something that appeals to me.
However, it is not without fault. The biggest negative that I could give it is that I found it to be a bit forgettable. As enjoyable as it was, it will never get out of the long shadow cast by The Princess Bride. The balancing act between the comedy and drama that I enjoyed, is bound to turn some people off. I speak from experience on this criticism. After viewing the movie, I ended up spending a fair amount of time trying to defend it from a friend that hated it with such passion that you would think that the director had personally pissed in his popcorn. His distaste for the comedy is justifiable. In prepping for this review I found out that the screenwriters that adapted the story added whimsy and humor to it in order to offset the violence and sex of the original story. I think it is a bit of sad statement when we can find more mature material in the form of storybook/comic book than on film, but that’s a blog post for another time.
What can I say? I am a sucker for a whimsical tale… and comedic fratricide… can’t forget about that.