Stardust Mini Review

We saw Stardust on Friday night.  I must say, it was a mixed bag for me.

On one hand, we had great performances from the male and female leads Charlie Cox and Claire Danes (Charlie doing the better job of the two).  Also, some fun turns in bit parts by Ricky Gervais, Rupert Everett, and Peter O'Toole.   On the other hand, we have the absolutely rubbish jobs by Pfeiffer and de Niro.  They were poorly matched to their roles, and I couldn't stand the make-up on Pfeiffer.  I never once bought her as an old hag.  She never moved like an old hag, even at her most decrepit. 

The special effects were poorly matched with the live action in a number of places.  Especially those god awful elephants early on, and some of the shots of the air pirate ship too.  Also, I noticed one annoying continuity error, in which Pfeiffer's character has no aging makeup when her sisters inform her that another is after the star.  Probably a scene shot to fill in a gap or something.  Basically, the budget showed here in there in odd places, and that took me out of the fun. I don't blame any of my complaints on Neil Gaiman though.  His original work was better than this.

It was fun and a pleasant way to spend an evening, but it was no Princess Bride.  I didn't find that it had any of that great humor behind it like Bride did.  A gay deNiro does not come close to matching the Sicilian.