Stardust- (Rated PG-13, 128 minutes. High Spoilers) Synopsis- A young man ventures into an enchanted land to recover a fallen star in order to win the love of a young woman. While there, he runs into witches, pirates and various ghosts and magical creatures. I had heard a lot of great things about this movie, so don't mind me if I was a little hesitant to watch for fear of a let down. The movie was enjoyable from the second it started with Ian McKellen narrating. Oh, he's fabulous. Right away the movie transforms you into another world that makes it more than easy to escape to. I found the movie to be very cute and sweet, but as the story line developed, I quickly became very invovled with all of the fantastical scenes. It was so sweet when each of the story lines came together as they raced on foot, horse, and carriage to the star of the flim. Pure delight!
The acting was absolutely fabulous. We'll start out with Michelle Pfeiffer as the witch. I LOVED her in this movie! You love to hate her. The thing I love about Michelle is she commands all of your attention while on screen. She is so much fun to watch and I love being fixated on her. As always, Michelle is strikingly beautiful, but along with that, boy can she act! One of my favorite parts with Michelle is when she very first rejuvinates into a young beautiful female. She's checking herself out, then gives a little puckered lipped "Damn, I'm hot" look! Love it! I also had to chuckle that she was using her magic to do beauty touchups, which inturn, would actually age her. When she fixed her face to only have her boobs sag? Oh mann, I was rolling!
When Robert De Niro first came on screen I did one of those, "Oh yeah. I forgot he was in this." Now, nothing against De Niro, because he is truly a great actor, but he's never been someone that I've been stoked to see in a film... but after his portrayal of Captain Shakespeare I just might have changed my mind. I fell in love, IN LOVE with Captain Shakespeare! I wish he actually existed! I didn't catch on to his true character right away (and maybe I wasn't suppose to) but I was so amused as he yelled his threatenings to Tristan and the Star so his crew could hear. That was pretty funny, but to hear the thrilled reactions of the crew members? Holy crap. That just had me rolling! There were some chuckles in the theatre, but I BUSTED up laughing everytime the men cheered back in violent excitment. Then, to my surpise (as the movie did so much) suddenly we see the Captain had been pulling one over on his men. The captain is revealed to be a tender spirited man who only wanted to make his dad happy even though his love for fasion didn't mix with the life of a Lightening hunter. As his entire demeanor transformed into his true self, I just fell deeper in love with him with each spoken word. In fact, my hand raised to my chest over my heart, where it remained until the scene was over. So wonderful!
Claire Danes character was alright at first, but I really loved her character by the end of the film. (I have a soft spot in my heart for Claire from my days of watching My So-Called Life ever so faithfully as a preteen.) I loved how she couldn't contain her emotions and she would shine as her spirits lifted. I found this to be COMPLETELY adorable and began wishing that people did that in real life. Then I realized, "well shoot, some people already do that with blushing. OH SHOOT! I'm TOTALLY a blusher!" My blushing isn't near as endearing as her shining, but maybe I can train myself to think it is along the same line though and I too could be delightfully endearing at not hiding my true emotions.
The leading man, Tristan played by Charlie Cox was cute. I really liked him. I don't think I have seen him in anything, but he did a great job in having me feel comfortable with his character and wanting him to do well in all his niavity. I loved watching his character come into his own, and was a total pimp by tales end.
I had never seen Kate Magowan (who played Tristan's mother), but I LOVE HER! She is gorgeous and I loved how strong her character is. She's a female role that you wish you could be in real life. Strong, beautiful, smart, and all around wonderful!
The comic relief of the King's ghostly brothers was always welcomed and quite entertaining. My only complaint could be that I needed more of them, but really, I think they had the perfect amount of screen time. All of the death threats were so playful and in such a sporting/competitive mood. Oh mann, that was freakin' awesome. I loved how when each brother would enter the state of limbo it was such a, "Nice try, but you didn't make it to the end either sucka!"
This might seem a little weird to add, because I don't remember the specific dialouge, but I will share it anyway. After Tristan and the Star escape the clutches of the aweful witch, the wanna be king in question comes along the remains of the enchanted bed and breakfast where he finds Bernard, the farm boy shamlessly turned into a goat prior to becoming a young lady with bountiful breasts. Like I said, I don't remember the dialouge, but I do remember Bernard's answers to the prince's questions were making me laugh so hard! Oh Bernard.... you'll bury us all!
One of the COOLEST scenes in the entire movie (and there are a lot to choose from) is the showdown between our hero Tristan and the awesomely villanous witch. Seeing as how he was protected from any harm, it made things a lot more difficult for the witch to kill him. With the help of her wonderfully cunning mind and black magic- she raises the limp corpse of the last fallen king and uses him- via voodoo doll- in a fabulous sword fight scene. Oh mann! That was so cool! I'm sure the actor was hooked up to a network of cables to keep him upright, but also allowed him to be limp and limber. Mann, that scene was just absolutely incredible! Whoever thought that whole sequence up is a genius, and I could just kiss everyone involved because it was executed so well! It's always great to be entertained with something that you have never seen before. I'm sure they'll reveal the secrets behind it on the DVD, and I can't wait to see it!
Obviously, I loved this movie! I was in the story from start to finish. There were a few twist and tuns that kept you guessing (which is always great for me). The acting was dead on, the plot was interesting. I just can't say enough good things about this. I will definitely buy this movie when it comes out, and i'm sure love it more and more as I catch all the things I missed the first time around.
PS. Is it just me, or was Billy -the human form of the goat- (ha ha... BILLY GOAT! I loved that!) remind you a lot of Paul Giamatti? I'm just saying... they could be brothers!
