Stardust (2007) - 7/10

The randomizer brought a nice palette cleanser to me in the form of the 2007 romance fantasy Stardust. Movies like this always seem to bring a nice sense of breeziness or whimsy around when they come on. And it clearly takes inspiration from fairy tales and other films like The Princess Bride. The 'once upon a time' style has been around since humans started telling stories to each other and I think that's what makes these so endearing or easily likable. But, nostalgia and familiar formatting does not a good movie make. So, let's head into the rubric. 

1. Acting

 I think that acting in a film like this is a deceptively harder needle to thread than most would assume. If you make the characters to real-to-life it will feel as if they don't belong within the world. But, you also can't lean to heavily into the whimsy without it coming across as overly saccharine. You want a nice Goldilocks of something almost naively optimistic while also being relatable enough that the audience comes along for the ride. 

To help thread the needle, the cast for Stardust is trying hard to find the balance, but with some mixed results (that mostly lean positive). Charlie Cox as the male lead of the film does a solid job imbuing Tristan with a clumsy charm and optimistic demeanor.  However, there are times that his performance feels uneven or lacks confidence in how to play the character at that particular time (such as the finale). His counterpart in the romance is Yvaine played by Claire Danes. Danes is an accomplished actor, but she too often feels uncertain of exactly where she wants to take the character. There's chemistry between the leads, but it wanes/waxes in believability throughout the runtime and I wonder if they just hit their stride too late in principal photography because some scenes are really great while others feel awkward. 

The rest of the cast turns in some decent performances as well. Mark Strong give a solid turn as Septimus, but it is a more straight forward role. Michelle Pfeiffer has a great performance as the main antagonist Lamia. She seems to really commit and bring consistency more often than her colleagues. And we also get a really odd playing-against-type Robert De Niro as the closeted gay Captain Shakespeare. It's honestly a pretty wild performance that is somehow simultaneously hilarious and great as it is a stereotyped train wreck. It does a weird dance of being believable and then suddenly becoming exactly what you'd imagine your grandfather might do if he were offensively impersonating a gay guy.

2. Cinematography 

The film looks great. Its bright and colorful and matches with the fantasy nature of the story. But, its best features are its long and ambitious CGI shots - especially the tricky transitions they tried to pull off. In 2007 CGI was making new achievements everyday, but the transitions from in camera footage to a full CGI transition was very cool. One of the more basic examples - after being captured on the airship, there is a shot of someone locking the doors to the brig, which then transitions to a CGI zoom into the lock hole itself, then out onto the other side putting the camera now inside the cell. It simple - but also effective, fun and indulgent. The indulgency gets turned up further at other moments like during the montage of Tristan and Yvaine's time on the ship. Starting from a shot within the cabin of the ship, we zoom out through a window, into a night storm, and the follow a bolt of lightning from its flash, through the inner machinations of the ship, and out the other side to where it is collected. It's both fairly unnecessary and also really visually fun.

3. Production/Costume Design 

I thought the production and costume teams did a great job bringing the world to life. Since the 'fantasy' world runs parallel to the 'real' world, the only real trick being used here is finding an aesthetic that is similar to a renaissance/victorian type era and adding in a few more fantastical elements to sell the whole thing. So, it may not be the most original approach, but it is one that feels very fitting for the story being told and its fairy tale tendencies.

4. Writing 

Overall, I like the characters and design of the story. Again, it's not always the most original at times, but it uses tropes to its advantage instead of having them hurt the final product. For example, central romance is a fairly familiar tale of boy thinks he is in love with one girl (who doesn't love him back) and through a series of events, finds out another girl (with which he has a fairly contentious beginning with) is his one true love.  Then we pile on top of that, the fantasy elements - that the boy is seeking a gift for his supposed beloved; a fallen star, which, as it turns out, is the second woman. All of this plays well, despite itself at times. 

As for the story beats themselves, the plot can be either a bit silly or too outlandish for those unwilling to accept the fairy tale sensitivities of the film. But, the silliness and crazy coincidences and royalty plot 'twist' in the finale are all part of the 'happily ever after' that the movie is heading towards. I can also forgive some of the plot conveniences given that its an adaptation of a much longer novel. 

5. Sound Design 

Admittedly I am a couple days late writing this, but don't recall anything in particular standing out in terms of sound design.

6. Editing 

The film can feel a bit choppy at times, likely again due to the problems they faced in distilling the novel down to a 128 minute runtime. But the story does flow together, albeit clumsily with someone noticeable shortcuts taken 

Otherwise, I liked some of the editing - namely the inventive use of camera and CGI to aid in fun transitions. However, it definitely suffers in its action moments that use rapid cutting which can be annoying to follow visually and makes it all feel lackluster.

7. Visual Effects 

The film has an ambitious amount of CGI which does help build out the fantastical world and he adventure within it. However, aspects of it does show its age at times. The green magic flames for example feel visually outdated and the glow affect around Claire Danes looks like a fairly cheap visual. 

But, despite its aging, the VFX team managed to pull off some 'magical' shots. And I think their successes were felt most when they leaned on practical elements or using specific lighting to sell the effects. The night shots still look great for example because it can hide some of the technology's detail rendering issues. In a similar vein, including practical elements such as building at least part of the pirate ship and using CGI to flesh out the rest, really pays dividends in the final product. A bonus shout out as well for the scene where the Lamia builds the Inn using magic - it looks great and was very ambitious for the time of the movie's release.

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation 

As mentioned, this is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's graphic novel of the same name. From my understanding, the novel leans much heavier into the idea of the 'adult fairy tale' and includes much more adult material. It also features a much longer and more detailed plot. 

With that said, Gaiman was involved in the initial pre-production process for the film and knew that a very faithful adaptation would not work for a singular film and encouraged the filmmakers to switch things up and condense. Without having read he novel myself, I can't remark too much on how well the condensing worked, but I do see a lot of my issues with the final product being at least somewhat related to the dilution process.  

9. Stunt Coordination 

The stunts seemed fine, but the editing and choreo featured a great deal of rapid cutting the made the action incomprehensible at times. I don't know if it was a logistical issue, or a time issue, or if it was a artistic choice - but what ends up onscreen doesn't look great. 

10. Direction 

This was an early outing for the director Matthew Vaughn, who has gone on to direct some really big and well received film including Kingsman and X-men: First Class.  I imagine he is still honing his craft here and learned a lot of lesson. Nevertheless, you can see some of the visual flares and creativity that would make him successful later on.

Legacy/Final Thoughts

The fantasy genre can be a pretty ruthless place to try occupy. Not everyone can make a war epic like The Lord of the Rings or a romantic joy like The Princess Bride, but I think Stardust comes closer than most to getting it right. I think I'd rather see the more adult and elongated version of the novel be developed into a miniseries - but that will likely not happen since the film was mostly middling with audiences and critics.