Fans of the film The Princess Bride speak of it with a reverence reserved for few movies. They have memorized it wholesale, and can recite entire scenes word for word. It has obtained a cult status among its followers; it is worshipped; it is beloved.
It was also perhaps the only sort of fantasy movie that could have been made successfully before Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings convinced the world that the genre could be taken seriously. The Princess Bride was not just a fantasy film; it was a perfect marriage between fantasy and comedy. And it was this latter quality that made it accessible, allowing it to earn a legion of devoted fans.
Stardust is a movie for these people. It is a movie for people who hold a place in their heart for The Princess Bride, and still have shelf space left for something else.
Startdust is the story of Tristran (Charlie Cox), a boy who, unbeknown to him, is actually the son of a princess (Kate Magowan) from another world that exists on the other side of a rock wall that lies in a field near a town in England, appropriately named Wall. Or should I say the kingdom lies in another dimension on Earth. Or a parallel Earth. It doesn’t matter. These are trivial details that are mostly unexplained, and the movie works better if you don’t try and figure out the details.
Tristran is a lost cause. He’s the subject of unrequited love. His affections are targeted toward Victoria (Sienna Miller) who isn’t interested in him; she’s after another, seemingly more capable man, who appears to have better clothes and is more accomplished with a sword. Tristran doesn’t care; he’s in love, and he’s willing to go to great lengths to prove it.
On the other side of the wall, in the province of Stormhold, the king (Peter O’Toole) is dying. He’s sired seven sons, some of whom are already dead at the hands of their siblings because they all covet the crown. As his final act, the king does a bit of magic with his prized necklace: The heir who can find it and restore it will become king.
The necklace shoots off in the stars and brings one of them back down to Earth with it: Clare Danes, who has never looked this lovely in any film she has done before. Here, she is absolutely radiant as Yvaine, the literal embodiment of a star. She glows when she is happy, but even without the special effects she melts the heart.
Through devices that I will not reveal here, Tristran meets up with Yvaine and their adventure together begins. The king’s sons hunt them for the necklace that Yvaine wears, and Michelle Pfifer, in a wicked turn as the witch Lamia, hunts the star for her own reasons. Along the way they run into certain troubles, as all such plots require, but the movie never comes across as tired or long, despite its two-hour-and-fifteen-minute running time. And while describing the complete plot of Stardust would make it sound complicated, the film is never confusing or difficult to follow.
Robert DeNiro shows up about halfway through the movie as the gay pirate Captain Shakespeare of an airship that harvests lightning from the clouds. His attempts to mask his true nature from his manly pirate crew make for some of the most humorous moments in the film.
If a gay pirate captain of an airship that harvests lightening sounds strange on paper, well, that’s because it is. But it also works, largely because of DeNiro, who has as much fun with the role as the audience does, but also because that is how Stardust works as a whole. The film, despite how strange or unconventional it may sound, works in every way once transferred into visual format. This seems fitting, since the film is based on a novella by Neil Gaiman that is largely a graphical work.
Like The Princess Bride, Stardust marries a fantastic fantasy realm with comedy and a love story. The movie never takes itself too seriously and hardly misses an opportunity to make the audience laugh, yet all the while still manages to make us care about the characters.
Princess Bride fans will note that while Stardust is funny there are few memorable lines in the film. This is not a weakness however; it is just a difference of style. Stardust has more to carry it, with some very attractive special effects and a love story that takes more prominence. It is charming and beautiful, which does not make it better or worse than The Princess Bride, just different.