The Fickle Magic of Stardust
A Shallow Romantic Adventure Set Inside a Magical Kingdom
Lush cinematography and enchanting moments from Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer add a few sparks to Matthew Vaughn's otherwise lackluster movie.
Given the spate of fantasy movies hitting theaters this fall, one wonders if they are simply escapist pleasure, or a sign of a deeper yearning to fill a spiritual void. Whichever the case, the answers don’t lie in Stardust.
Superficial and Unconvincing
The movie tells the story of Tristan (Charlie Cox), an ordinary lad who attempts to woo the cool Victoria (Sienna Miller) by seeking a fallen star. For this, he must venture beyond the wall separating his quiet village from a magical kingdom. Complications arise when Tristan discovers his star is actually beauty personified, in the form of the lovely Yvaine (Claire Danes), who is sought both by a pair of murderous princes and the evil witch queen, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer). But while the movie is rich in parable and parody, the treatment is superficial and unconvincing.
Stardust is directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. Ben Davis’ cinematography is beautiful, the colors lush and vibrant, and the special effects are simple and restrained. Visually, one may easily suspend disbelief and enter a magical realm. But the screenplay is determined to avoid subtleties and wallop us over the head with a codfish at every turn, showing neither the complexity of The Lord of the Rings, the humor of The Princess Bride, or the boyish conviction of Harry Potter.
The hero’s journey is gratuitous; the only thing Tristan has going for himself is a modicum of honesty and a sort of inane pluck. He shows little moral resolve, and even less ingenuity and resourcefulness. Our attention is only mildly diverted by Cox’s boyish charm. Vaughn says he wanted to show Tristan’s change from a boy to a man. “He needs to meet a character who’s a combination of Obi-Wan and Yoda,” Vaughn says in the current issue of Creative Screenwriting.
De Niro as Captain Shakespeare
And Tristan’s Obi-Wan comes in the form of Robert De Niro, who provides uneven levity with an at times hollow, at times hilarious portrayal as the transvestite cloud pirate, Captain Shakespeare. The problem is, Captain Shakespeare virtually transforms our hero single-handedly, leaving little for Tristan to do for himself. And manhood, as we know, must be earned, not given.
To be sure, there are plenty of bright moments in the film. Peter O’Toole has a marvelous cameo as the cunning old king, and Michelle Pfeiffer is simply striking. When she magically sheds the wrinkles of the crone she has become, a voluptuous, youthful maturity settles fleetingly upon her 49-year-old shoulders, making even Claire Danes’ shining star seem little more than a glittering bauble. Unfortunately, Pfeiffer is able to do little more with her lines here than play the camp, and there isn’t enough camp to make it effective.
Danes infuses Yvaine with a luscious wholesomeness, adding needed sincerity to the script’s trite expostulations on love: love doesn’t require buying the affections of an aloof beauty, we are assured, but freely giving one’s heart to another, asking nothing more (and nothing less) than to be loved in return. And after all, when seen from afar, love is the single saving grace for mankind in the face of so much killing and mayhem.
Ultimately, though, the plot is stretched thin with leaps and conveniences that defy even the fantastical reality of the film’s universe. Magic, we know, is fickle. In this film, it plays coy. We want to believe. We need, perhaps, to believe. But we need something stronger, deeper—at once more magical and more real—than we find in Stardust.
- Grade: C+
- Rating: PG-13
- Running time: 128 minutes
