Review of Stardust

There are fanboys who worship at the alter of Neil Gaiman. I loved the man's work on the classic Sandman series, but I am NOT one of them!

Although I love Sandman; to me the series seems a one-off for Neil Gaiman. A fluke if you will. Nothing he has done before or since has quite reached the amazing bar Sandman has set. There have been a few close calls (American Gods coming to mind), but while Gaiman's stories has loads of imagination, lack of execution has been his fatal flaw at times. At times it almost seems that he has too much imagination for his own good.

The movie Stardust is based on a novel Neil Gaiman wrote, and...it does NOT have this problem. For this, thank God for Matthew Vaughn. The British film producer-turned-director might be better known as Mr Claudia Schiffer, but does the man have talent or what!

Vaughn streamlines the book to give off a charming movie that's both funny and fun. The casting director need a pay raise as well because the film is amazing well-casted. How the hell did he managed to get Robert De Niro (having a ball of a time), Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Sienna Miller all into Stardust? Whoever he is, the pay raise is richly deserved.

I won't go into detail about the movie as I probably won't be able to do it justice, let just say that I understand why the film remind people of The Princess Bride. Like that classic film, Stardust is destined for classic status. DO NOT READ THE BOOK FIRST! The film is good in that you are never quite sure what's going to happen next.

Also, Charlie Cox is a breakout star as the main character Tristan Thorne. Cox is believable as the bumbling, naive boy as the start of the movie; and is believable as the heroic man at the end. A superb performance!

Take a look at Stardust; it's one of the best film of the year!