We're always going to be left with a Lord of the Rings shaped hole that nothing will ever fill but it's always tempting when a sexy piece of fantasy erupts from our collective miasma and titillates the imagination. It is a sense of a first encounter with Tolkien, fantasy as the dangerous, quirky and exciting; this, the modern interpretation of Neil Gaiman's Stardust manages to achieve.

Set one-hundred-and-fifty years in the past the tale follows a young Englishman called Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox) in his quest to find a token for his beloved Veronica (Sienna Miller). What she wants however is a piece of a fallen star. The journey to this star brings Tristan to a world of the magical he could never even imagine. In the nearby land of Stormhold an old King is dying and his seven sons (played by comedic stars Rupert Everett, David Walliams etc.) are all grappling for power and control to murderous events. Yvain, played by Claire Danes is Tristan's most thrilling discovery and her fate keeps the audience guessing to the very last minute. Michelle Pfeiffer's evil witch Lamia is ice cold, hilarious and alarming throughout the picture, second only to her latest role in this year's Hairspray.

The sets and graphics used for Stardust are nothing we haven't seen before, we are rarely wowed but what is really ingenious are the underlying ideas: gigantic ships which soar through the sky collecting lightning, a natural world separated from ours by just a thin wall of protection always prick the skin of our thoughts. The soundtrack is exciting, performances from this star-studded cast continually throw up unexpected and allegorical turns, Robert De Niro (Captain Shakespeare) and Ricky Gervais (Ferdy) play hilarious characters with great ease. Stardust is a fantasy film with a difference because it never, for a single second behaves or takes itself seriously. It ticks all the boxes.

by Elizabeth Amisu

Stardust
***

There are some truly hilarious moments on rural England humour, with ‘The Wall’ at the village edge that no one crosses, it being a portal into another world. Every child’s fantasy that beyond their normal village boundary lies a completely fantastical and magical world of witches, wizards, sky pirates and all things bizarre and probably not quite possible for this world. There are a lot of characters and a lot of twists of fate that all build up to a crescendo toward the end in true fairytale form.

The film also boasts a whole host of British cameos from both film and television, for better or worse, some worse than others but the familiar faces mixed among the Hollywood A-listers is quite appropriate considering it is set in an almost parallel world to England.

A lot of the performances are amazing; Michelle Pfeiffer as the evil witch, Peter O’Toole as the dying king of Stormhold, and Clare Danes shines as radiantly as always, in this case that being the literal truth. Robert De Niro’s character did make me laugh at first but his scenes do drag on a bit and become rather tiresome almost instantly. But if anyone for whatever reason has been waiting to see him dressed up in drag, then this is the one.

The effects are fantastic and at times used to hilarious consequences. I would however have liked to see more of the world that was created, not so much in terms of magic but what makes Stormhold such a special place and how it came to be. A lot of time is spent on the characters but little is explained on the world that exists.

The connotations of finding true love are rife and don’t come across as over-bearing. It is all a bit obvious of course but it is a fairytale in the true sense of the word. An enjoyable fantasy children’s film released just before Halloween, that’s certainly worth a watch.

by Ian Cook