[Busting justice can sometimes seem tough, especially when the innocent line up alongside the guilty.]
Stardust (2007) is a British-American romantic fantasy film directed by Matthew Vaughn, starring Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, and Robert De Niro.
In the end, unwitting heir to a magical kingdom, Charlie Cox, lives happily ever after, shining brightly for eternity, next to fallen star, Claire Danes, returned to her home in the night sky, after a long and happy reign together, once she saved both herself and him from dreaded witch, Michelle Pfeiffer, who, along with her two scheming sisters, intended to consume the star's heart for the immortality and supernatural power it would confer on them.
Menial shop boy, Cox, learns how to be a hero from a reputedly blood-thirsty closet cross-dressing captain of a flying lightening trawler, Robert De Niro, and in the process, falls in love with a star knocked from the heavens, Danes, his recovery of which, from within an enchanted realm, contested over by seven princely sibling, he hoped would prove his devotion to a girl he mistakenly thought he loved, eventually discovering he is the only son of the rival princes' long-lost sister and, therefore, rightful heir to the throne.
This perfectly demonstrates the short-comings of busting a movie that represents more than the sum of its parts, as much of the pleasure of the dense and entertaining plot-line is lost, because it involves characters who only affect the eventual outcome indirectly. So the contribution of the excellent ensemble players hardly gets a mention, compared with that of the principals, two of whose casting represented such a colossal miscalculation as to have almost sunk the whole endeavour.
Though convincing as a naive, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed pretty boy, Cox's transformation into a hero and resulting romance with Danes, that lie at the heart of the story, could not have been less convincing.
Even so, his short-comings in that role pale into insignificance, when compared to the un-believability of De Niro as a mincing aesthete.
Rightly renowned for his portrayals of psychopaths, and for the comedy roles in which he sends up such portrayals, he completely fails to sell the role of reluctant pirate, in which he just embarrasses himself and all those around him, required to pretend he is doing a good job.
Fortunately, Pfeiffer, Danes and everyone else do such good work covering for these two, that the result is well worth the price of admission, especially to anyone who enjoys revisionist fairy-tales.
Perhaps George Lucas might be persuaded to work some of his digital-replacement magic on a print?
Fingers crossed ;)
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_(2007_film)
