Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Stardust weaves a tale about warring heirs to the throne of a magical kingdom, a fallen star, a passel of evil witches and a young shop boy who gets thrown into the middle of things. Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox) is an idealistic young man, one who aspires to greater things than simply being a shop boy. In fact, he has dreams of marrying the most beautiful girl in his town, Victoria (Sienna Miller), a lovely but shallow girl who enjoys the attention Tristan showers on her, but instead intends to marry the wealthy town ass, Humphrey (Henry Cavill). As the two share a romantic midnight picnic, Tristan vows he'd do anything for Victoria's hand in marriage. As a falling star shoots across the sky, he says he'd even retrieve that star for her. Victoria gives him one week to obtain it to win her hand from Humphrey, so off Tristan goes.
Unfortunately, the star seems to have fallen beyond the stone wall for which the town, Wall, was named. No one is allowed to pass, and the old man who guards the wall makes sure no one does. Some 18 years before, he was tricked by Tristan's father who managed to get past and visit the magical town of Stormhold, meeting a lovely princess who was being held as a slave by a nasty witch. They spent a few magical moments together and 9 months later, Tristan appeared on his father's doorstep. Of course, Tristan has no idea of any of this.
Tristan does manage to make it past the wall and in his search for the star, finds Yvaine (Claire Danes), a beautiful young girl who claims she in fact, is the star. She wears a large and ornate stone around her neck, a stone which is being sought by a group of royal brothers in line for the throne of Stormhold, as the stone determines who will ascend the throne. As Tristan and Yvaine, against her will, set off to return to Victoria, an evil, old and ugly witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) is alerted to the star's descent to earth and starts off on a journey to capture her. It seems Lamia and her sisters feed off of the glowing hearts of fallen stars in order to regain their youth and beauty, so Lamia is determined to get her clutches on Yvaine.
As Tristan and Yvaine bicker and travel the land, they'll run into several interesting characters, the most interesting of which is Captain Shakespeare (Robert DeNiro), the leader of a ruthless band of sky pirates, who actually prefers to dress up in fancy dresses and fix people's hair when in private. Hilarious! Then there's the goat who Lamia turns into a man - the way this guy grunts and jumps up onto furniture is truly priceless.
Take all of these wacky characters and throw them all into an epic battle of good versus evil, plus toss in a healthy dose of humor and that's Stardust. Special features include an amusing blooper reel, some deleted scenes, and a making-of featurette. Excellent acting, lots of really funny humor and a really engaging story all combine to create a fantasy movie that will please fans of the genre.
