A young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) tries to win the heart of Victoria (Sienna Miller), the beautiful but cold object of his desire, by going on a quest to retrieve a fallen star. His journey takes him to a mysterious and forbidden land beyond the walls of his village. On his odyssey, Tristan finds the star, which has transformed into a striking girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes). However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. A king's (Peter O'Toole) four living sons - not to mention the ghosts of their three dead brothers - all need the star as they vie for the throne. Tristan must also overcome the evil witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who needs the star to make her young again. As Tristan battles to survive these threats, encountering a pirate named Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) and a shady trader named Ferdy the Fence (Ricky Gervais) along the way, his quest changes. He must now win the heart of the star for himself as he discovers the meaning of true love.

Stardust is the kind of epic tale of romance, sword fighting, fairy tale adventure that we have not seen since the likes of the Princess Bride. Its magically injects its movie with all these elements as it tells a story that has a little bit of everything for everyone. It has the romance for the girls, it has the action and sword fighting for the boys, it has a fantastic fairy tale world for the kids and young at heart and it has the humor for those who like to laugh and be entertained. Most of the fantasy movies that have came out in the last few years have been of the serious and more sinister nature. Not Stardust as it is lighter, more fun and just seems to be the kind of wild crazy adventure that most of us would like to have. It’s like one of those fairy tale books that were read to you as fell asleep as a child full of dark witches, dashing heroes and an assortment of funny and hilarious side characters. It’s like that book came to life and you found yourself falling into it and your imagination being set free.

If you stop to think of some of the best fantasy films of all time with the exception of Harry Potter you will notice they use adult actors and adult storylines that can be family friendly as well. Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, Legend all used old actors and told a tale that could be enjoyed by all. But with the burst and popularity of the Harry Potter series there seems to be hundreds of copycats about kids having fantastical fairy tale adventures where they have been chosen to save the world and fight evil. I can think of three movies that will come out in the next months that could be viewed as Harry Potter wannabees all involving children taking on the big bad villains. But the problem with these kid geared and kid performed movies is a lot of times they leave a lot to be wanted and they fail. I mean I find it hard to get behind and cheer for an eleven year old to beat an experienced and truly evil villain. I mean I lose my sense of disbelief, I lose that magical separation of reality from fantasy that you need to make these kinds of movies work and I find myself disappointed and let down.

The second problem is most child actors just can’t pull of the chops it takes to make their movies not seem flawed. Fantasy movies are already kind of skating that line as they have to get you to release your sense of disbelief and when a lot of these movies are plaqued with bad child acting you can’t help but cringe at times. Would the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe been better had it had an adult cast, most likely same goes for Lemony Snicket’s series of Unfortunate Events. The movies are good but they can’t be fantastic because they are hampered with these limitations. The same does not go for Stardust the movie has the ability to soar because it has the ability to cast adult actors portraying a more adult story.

Robert Deniro and Michelle Pfeiffer simply steal this movie. Deniro plays an effimate pirate that helps the heroes out and Pfeiffer plays an evil witch hell bent on capturing and killing the falling star. These two characters are what make the movie so fantastic, they aren’t the main character but they manage to add so much to the movie every time they are on the screen. It’s all the little parts that make the whole so good. From Billie Goat to the deceased princes who follow their still alive brothers around these minor characters are what make the tapestry of the movie so good. Once Charlie Cox makes his transformation from downtrodden shop boy to flamboyant and charming hero the movie really takes off and you are in for an epic showdown of good vs evil. The movie can be silly at times but it is still quite entertaining.

Grade: B+