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Stardust
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Eventful fairy tale based on a popular book by Neil Gaiman about a star that falls to earth in human form (Claire Danes), and how she's pursued by a witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who hopes to acquire eternal youth, a murderous prince (Mark Strong) trying to secure his late father's (Peter O'Toole) throne, and a young man (Charlie Cox) who promises the maiden (Sienna Miller) he loves that he'll bring her the star to prove his love. Matthew Vaughn directs the multistrand narrative with conviction, and there's a good deal of welcome humor and an interesting cast (also including Robert De Niro, Rupert Everett and Ricky Gervais) but some of the story elements veer more toward adults -- or older teens -- than the youngsters who might most enjoy this sort of yarn. Intense action violence, implied premarital sex, a flamboyantly gay character, another born out of wedlock, some innuendo and brief crass language. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2007
"Stardust" (Paramount) is an eventful fairy tale based on a popular book by Neil Gaiman about a star that falls to earth in human form -- an ethereal beauty named Yvaine (Claire Danes, looking not unlike Gwyneth Paltrow in a long blonde wig), who's being pursued by, seemingly, every other character in the film.
For starters, there's a (mostly) glamorous witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who ages into an old crone every time she unleashes some magic and who hopes to acquire eternal youth by cutting out Yvaine's heart. She's aided in her conniving by two ghoulish sisters. Then there's Septimus, a murderous prince (Mark Strong), who hopes to secure the throne of his late father (Peter O'Toole) and bumps off his brothers one by one.
And most innocuously, there's Tristan (Charlie Cox), a naive youth who promises Victoria (Sienna Miller), the village maiden he loves, that he'll bring her the falling star they observed plummeting to earth to prove his love. When Tristan meets Yvaine, it's only a matter of time before the two fall in love, especially as Victoria has thus far treated him with cool disinterest. Tristan becomes her protector.
Tristan lives in the walled city of Wall, beyond whose protected boundaries lies a land of magic and danger. Years before, Tristan's father had, in fact, jumped over the wall and had a romantic encounter (not shown) with the chained slave (Kate Magowan) of a witch named Ditchwater Sal (Melanie Hill). Tristan is a result of that brief union.
The pair have many adventures including a run-in with a pirate, Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro, incongruous New York accent and all), who commands a wondrous flying ship, and when not pretending to be a fearsome pirate, still more incongruously, dresses in women's clothes and dances in his cabin to Offenbach's can-can music. Naturally, this is all played for laughs.
Matthew Vaughn directs the multistrand narrative with conviction, and with great dollops of humor, like the six deceased brothers of Septimus who form a ghostly Greek chorus commenting on Septimus' machinations. That sort of funny business runs pretty much neck and neck with the adventure elements through the entire film (scripted by Vaughn and Jane Goldman), until the final showdown between Tristan and Lamia which, though scarily intense, rates as the film's most exciting sequence. Yvaine is also given a nice speech about the nature of love that's a cut above the usual for this genre.
The big-name cast, including Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais and narrator Ian McKellen, provides additional interest, and Pfeiffer is especially good in her scenery-chewing role.
Though not so much as in, say, "Pan's Labyrinth," a true adult fairy tale, many of the story elements here veer more toward older viewers (upper teens and beyond) than the youngsters who might most enjoy this sort of yarn. Though nothing is shown and the scene is brief, for instance, we do see Tristan and Yvaine waking up in the same bed one morning. Parents will have to decide if material like that, and even De Niro's outrageous camping (though not so very different from Johnny's Depp's Jack Sparrow antics) preclude viewing by their youngsters.
The film contains intense action violence, implied premarital sex, a flamboyantly gay character, another born out of wedlock, some innuendo and brief crass language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.
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