Another big thumb up from me. It did a great job of poking fun at the genre while also being in the genre…
The closest comparison I can make is (as others have said) The Princess Bride, and while it’s not quite THAT good, it’s still just solidly entertaining from start to finish.
I saw it last night - I really enjoyed it, and thought it was worth seeing in the theater instead of waiting for Netflix.
We saw it last night and loved it. Much more like The Princess Bride than Lord of the Rings (even though I loved the LotR movies). Romantic, fun, cute fantasy for people who don’t care for the genre. I’ve never been a huge Claire Danes fan, but she was spunky and cute and fun here, and Michelle Pfeiffer is still hot after all this time. I hardly recognized Rupert Everett or Ricky Gervais (until the latter started talking, at least)! The pirates were the best part, and the theater loved Robert DeNiro’s character. All his scenes and lines were pure gold.
Also, was it a coincidence that Humphrey, Victoria’s jerkish boyfriend, sure looked a lot like Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts?
I enjoyed it. Not quite as much as the others here, but I’m glad I went.
I’m sure it’s no coincidence, especially because the actor who plays him looks nothing like that normally or in his other roles. They found a guy with bone structure like Carey Elwes (Westley), and totally changed his hair color, texture and style and skin tone to mimic Elwes.
Here he is in Stardust… and here he is all tall dark and handsome…
I noticed that too. It was funny. And then at the end when
The pirate captain winked at him and he kind of preened the whole audience cracked up.
I really liked the film. I thought it was sweet and funny. Not too keen on the giant action showdown at the end but that’s what you get out of hollywood these days I suppose. I liked the comic business with Billy and Bernard a lot. Very nicely done.
Been a couple of years since I read the book for which I was sort of glad as I didn’t have too many inevitable comparisons going on.
Good Ford, that’s true. Damn that PG-13 rating!
I liked it too. Sort of like the first Pirates movie, not a deep artistic work, but kept me entertained for a solid two hours, which is more then you can say for most summer adventure flicks.
Best parts were when Tristan tried some sort of standard action hero move only to have it turn into a bit of physical comedy.
I found the soundtrack a little annoying though, too generic adventure/fantasy maybe. The sound in the theater I was in was a little unbalanced, so it might have been that as well.
That would be “a buckler get swashed”.
In the movie, is the pirates’ dirigible held aloft by some kind of magical spell, since its envelope is so small as to be merely decorative?
Just saw it.
Should have been a Terry Gilliam film, the darks would have been darker, the lights lighter.
Enjoyable, but i’d put The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in front of this.
Can anyone here compare the film to the comic? My fiance and I love the original comic and novel versions of Stardust, but from the previews this film looks only loosely related. None of the quaint faerie elements seem to be how I imagined, and a lot of the smaller bit parts (Robert DeNiro’s character) seem to be exaggerated. Overall, it looks disappointing. The novel had a charm of its own, and the film doesn’t look to have captured it.
I cringe at the previews, but I’d like to hear someone’s opinion of the film’s treatment of the book and changes that were made.
I can only be of so much help because my memory for the specifics of novels tends to be terrible. I saw the film last night, and the only thing that stood out for me as being markedly different is thatthe flower that served as a lucky charm for Tristan throughout the novel only seemed to play a significant role at the end of the film.My wife, who has a better memory for the book than I do, agreed.
Overall, there is a slightly different feel to the movie for sure. My comment to a friend who saw it with us was that the movie felt like a story that just had touches of Gaiman thrown into it, rather than a Gaiman story. But I don’t mean that as a discredit to the film at all; I think the movie stands perfectly well on its on as an enjoyable experience (outside some of the soundtrack). I think you really should go and see it.
Guy here – I thought it was good. A bit too heavy on the romance at parts, but enough cool stuff to make it worth seeing. The De Niro part was beyond awesome.
Saw it, grinned like an idiot all the way home.
The only issue I had was also with the big dramatic showdown:
Yvaine defeats Lamia by shining really, really brightly? Wasn’t the whole point of Yvaine and Tristan (and wasn’t it Tristran in the novel / graphic novel?) falling in love to save Yvaine’s heart by giving it to Tristan, so Lamia couldn’t get at it?
But other than that? Fantastic. 
The ending reminded me of The Simpsons and Homer’s heart belonging to Marge, so the devil can’t have him in exchange for the doughnut.
My favorite moment was Robert DeNiro and You’ll always be our captain. ::sniff
I thought for a moment that Billy was played by Tom Waits.
I’m glad everyone seems to have enjoyed it. I was surprised that I was so underwhelmed by it myself, so I guess it’s one of those “your mileage may vary” situations.
I loved this movie. Comparisons to Adventures of Baron Munchausen & Princess Bride are apt. It’s not quite as good as those, but it’s close.
I’ll have to reread the book, since I remember almost none of it.
Forgot my other thought…I was surprised they would have Yvainne believe that Tristan was going home to what’s-her-name as his true love. The message just wasn’t garbled enough, and she should know Tristan is an honest guy.
I’ll jump in with a dissenting opinion and say my husband and I were both bored out of our skulls and almost left during the film. We own and love “Princess Bride” and “Baron Muchausen” (except for most of the moom sequence which gets skipped every time), and I wouldn’t even think of them in the same context as “Stardust”. Too bad, I was rather looking forward to enjoying it.
YMMV indeed.
Just got back from this.
Found it delightful and beguiling. Will be adding it to the DVD shelf shortly after release.
