Movie Review for Stardust

Summary: 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.

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Rebecca Murray of About.com (7/0)
            Neil Gaiman discusses the feature film adaptation of Stardust.

By Philip Martin of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (7/0)
            ...the easy comparison is to Rob Reiner's similarly pitched The Princess Bride (1987), it's reall...

By Christy Lemire of Associated Press (7/0)
            Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Stardust definitely has more than enough imagination and whims...

By Marc Savlov of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
            Stardust has lost a good amount of its magic in the transformation from page to screen. It's the ...

By Michael Sragow of Baltimore Sun (7/0)
            Vaughn often directs this film as if he's stuffing a pop-art cornucopia: a little Monty Python or...

By Wesley Morris of Boston Globe (7/0)
            ...looks drearily secondhand.

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Fred Topel of Can Magazine (7/0)
            Stardust has a sense of whimsy that keeps all the pretty pictures feeling magical, not like some ...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            It's a film you enjoy in pieces, but the jigsaw never gets solved.

By Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            Stardust piles on the conflict and the bombast.

By Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune (4/3)
            ...has its moments, most of them plot-unrelated.

By Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor (7/0)
            Stardust has a welcome heft.

By Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals (7/0)
            They might have saved something for a sequel but the sorcery of the enterprise is the three-ring ...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Joshua Tyler of CinemaBlend.com (7/0)
            I trust in the greatness of Gaiman's work to shine through.

By Joshua Tyler of CinemaBlend.com (7/0)
            Matthew Vaughn and a wry sense of humor saves the movie's oh-so-80s story from being an out of ti...

By Karina Montgomery of Cinerina (7/0)
            I kept feeling that same tingling that I get toward the end of a Harry Potter book, that longing ...

By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
            Stardust is the first summer movie of 2007 that actually celebrates storytelling, rather than con...

By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
            A delightfully fun and magical fantasy film, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the first ...

By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (7/0)
            Very good fun, and it taps right into same fanciful family movie market as The Princess Bride did...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Boo Allen of Denton Record Chronicle (TX) (7/0)
            Enjoyable bit of puffery.

By Alex Markerson of E! Online (7/0)
            If you're looking for a funny, thrilling, charming summer picture, one just fell magically into y...

By David Cornelius of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            It is a film of awe and beauty, a flight of fancy bursting with the great marvels of the imaginat...

By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            Stardust had little chance of standing up next to the classics even with a competent storyteller.

By Peter Sobczynski of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            "Stardust" has the one quality that all the money in the world cannot buy and that all the visual...

By Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.Com (7/0)
            British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, known for his his intimate low-budget crime features, makes a b...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Emanuel Levy of EmanuelLevy.Com (7/0)
            Brit helmer Matthew Vaughn makes a big leap from small intimate crimer to big-budget Hollywood fa...

By Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            ...deftly put together...

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            An utterly beguiling, magical film from start to finish.

By Nathaniel Rogers of Film Experience (7/0)
            Pfeiffer rocks. The rest is merely rocky.

By Daniel Eagan of Film Journal International (7/0)
            For the most part a lighthearted, entertaining adventure that works best when it doesn't take its...

By Michael Ferraro of Film Threat (7/0)
            Stardust is the best live-action fairytale fantasy in recent memory. There is a great deal of hum...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Sean O'Connell of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            Spectacular!

By Kent Turner of Film-Forward.com (7/0)
            Matthew Vaughan's movie version of Neil Gaiman's 1999 Stardust actually attempts to broaden the c...

By Victoria Alexander of FilmsInReview.com (7/0)
            Simply divine fantasy. Pfeiffer casts a spell on it outshining the fallen star.

By Brent Simon of FilmStew.com (7/0)
            Pfeiffer and De Niro have a blast with their roles.

By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (7/0)
            I wish I could be more enthusiastic... I like it just fine: it's sweet and amusing and nicely div...

By Rob Vaux of Flipside Movie Emporium (7/0)
            It adopts a slyly subversive tone -- two parts Princess Bride, one part Baron Munchausen -- and y...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Bill Clark of FromTheBalcony (7/0)
            Stardust contains a little something for all types of moviegoers, but above all else it has a fet...

By Ethan Alter of Giant Magazine (7/0)
            Mr. Vaughn, I know The Princess Bride and your take on Stardust ain't no Princess Bride.

By Peter Canavese of Groucho Reviews (7/0)
            It's been quite some time since a fantasy adventure this cheekily entertaining has made its way d...

By Ross Anthony of Hollywood Report Card (7/0)
            Fails for 1 full hour, then pivoting on De Niro's flamboyant appearance, ascends to clouds. Too m...

By Sura Wood of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            A magical adult fairy tale.

By Sura Wood of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            Diverting and pleasurable to watch...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Amy Biancolli of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            No, Stardust isn't a children's movie. It's a movie for anyone, of any age, who believes in magic...

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            A bore for young and old alike, Stardust features a large and talented cast -- all wasted.

By Kevin Williamson of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            Whimsy and wit are the prevailing special effects of Stardust.

By Bob Bloom of Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) (7/0)
            Most knowledgeable filmgoers can figure out who does what to whom and who winds up with whom. The...

By Andrea Chase of Killer Movie Reviews (7/0)
            playful as well as clever, and while the action of the story might be of the otherworldly variety...

By Beth Accomando of KPBS.org (7/0)
            Stardust works better as a book than as a film. The film version is entertaining and fun but not ...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            Comedy turns out to be the saving grace of this film about a young prince on a magic quest to win...

By Kevin Crust of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            With its heart worn proudly on its sleeve, it's one of the best date movies of the year, a compat...

By Kevin Crust of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            Sophisticated in its execution...

By Pete Hammond of Maxim (7/0)
            Well cast and smartly directed by Matthew Vaughn, this colorful confection is better than it has ...

By Matt Pais of Metromix.com (7/0)
            Like nothing you've seen before, and we don't mean that in a good way.

By Cathy Jakicic of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            Stardust includes a troupe of familiar faces in small, witty parts, plus some genuinely original ...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Kurt Loder of MTV (7/0)
            Stardust is an attempted magical fantasy with so much going for it - splashy cast, budget-gobblin...

By David Edelstein of New York Magazine (7/0)
            It’s puffed up in obvious ways but disarmingly puckish in others.

By Lou Lumenick of New York Post (7/0)
            ...an overstuffed, overlong epic...

By Stephen Holden of New York Times (7/0)
            ...barrels forward with a fearless audacity.

By Jan Stuart of Newsday (7/0)
            Stardust comes as close as any newfangled fairy tale in recent years to sating the appetite of dr...

By Brian Orndorf of OhmyNews.com (7/0)
            I was blinded by a thunderstorm of mediocre special effects, a boisterous soundtrack that makes T...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Winds up seeming heavy-handed, like an elephant trying to dance ballet--a movie about magic that'...

By Tasha Robinson of Onion AV Club (7/0)
            A stern editor with a sense of dramatic timing could have given this film more tension to go with...

By John Thomason of Orlando Weekly (7/0)
            A fantasy for people who wished their fantasies were more like Willow and The Princess Bride and ...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            It's difficult to say more complimentary things than at least it was competently made.

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            A mixed bag of triumphs and failures.

By Steven Rea of Philadelphia Inquirer (7/0)
            It brings too much of everything to the table: It's the cinema equivalent of a long, winding, run...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Bill Gibron of PopMatters (7/0)
            There are parts of this film that actually try to fly. The vast majority though is grounded in a ...

By Glenn Kenny of Premiere Magazine (7/0)
            As Vaughan demonstrated with Layer Cake, he can shift so smoothly between goofy and gruesome that...

By Pam Grady of Reel.com (7/0)
            Vaughn has done justice to his source material, at times even surpassing it (his ending is way mo...

By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            It does not have a great deal of soul, just a sense of adventure and a happily-ever-after ending.

By Jeffrey Chen of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Quite straightforward, and we're allowed to simply soak in the pleasantly surprising amount of fu...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            Stardust is a little of a throwback to how fantasy movies used to be before the emergence of the ...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            ...a fresh and welcome entertainment.

By Fred Topel of Rotten Tomatoes (7/0)
            Pfeiffer Not So Bad in Stardust

By Scott Weinberg of Rotten Tomatoes (7/0)
            Pseudo-Celeb "Hellboy 2" Set Reports Posted

By Carla Meyer of Sacramento Bee (7/0)
            Entertains and even transports at times. But the spell is broken too often.

By Jim Lane of Sacramento News & Review (7/0)
            ...a likeable charmer...

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            This luminous, magical movie will dazzle even the fantasy-film phobic.

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (7/0)
            Stardust may fall short of the fairy-tale grandeur and humor of [The Princess Bride], but it has ...

By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (7/0)
            Stardust staggers with end-of-summer excess, seldom winning more than a weary gasp.

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            ...a film of humor and imagination, with an exceptional cast.

By James O'Ehley of Sci-Fi Movie Page (7/0)
            A magical tale of witches, princes, magical realms and the mythical sleepy English village of Wal...

By James O'Ehley of Sci-Fi Movie Page (7/0)
            Fantasy flick based on a work by Neil Gaiman of Sandman fame . . . but will it work on the big s...

By Sean McBride of Sean the Movie Guy (7/0)
            Should remind most audiences of The Princess Bride, although this film is a lot more adult in its...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            While Cox does well as the young hero, the rest of the casting is weak.

By Moira MacDonald of Seattle Times (7/0)
            Stardust suffers from uneven pacing and some cheesy-looking special effects. But the fine cast ke...

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            Like The Princess Bride meets Time Bandits with its quirky humour and unashamedly romantic plot.

By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            A compendium of multifarious genre inflections seemingly intended for friends of Tori.

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
            A pleasant adult fairy tale about a young man who goes on a quest and returns home a different pe...

By Angela Baldassarre of Sympatico.ca (7/0)
            A wonderfully inventive fairy tale that is original and defiant, as well as hilarious and adventu...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (7/0)
            Stardust isn't just a one-note movie with a lot of pizzazz and zero substance, but a more thought...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            They threw everything into this movie: a little swashbuckling adventure, a love story, acts of he...

By Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York (7/0)
            The antic spirit of The Princess Bride looms large over Stardust, creatively adapted from Neil Ga...

By Tony Medley of tonymedley.com (7/0)
            ...a charming, upbeat, humorous, romantic experience full of action and adventure. Even better, i...

By Geoff Pevere of Toronto Star (7/0)
            Stardust [feels] episodic and clunky, constantly straining for the impression of overall coherent...

By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            This revisionist fairy tale is never quite able to find its tone.

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Gregory Weinkauf of ÜberCiné (7/0)
            A glorious yarn.

By Claudia Puig of USA Today (7/0)
            Stardust lights up the screen with a splendid tale of heroism and romance. You don't have to be a...

By John Anderson of Variety (7/0)
            Everything but the enchanted kitchen sink shows up in the sprawling fairy tale Stardust.

By Steve Crum of Video-Reviewmaster.com (7/0)
            The violence is too much for young children, and the witches are too corny for older viewers.

By Robert Wilonsky of Village Voice (7/0)
            This is less an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 1999 novel than of its dust-jacket synopsis, which wi...

By Willie Waffle of WaffleMovies.com (7/0)
            Suffers mightily in the last third as Robert DeNiro shows up playing a pirate like he wants to ou...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Ann Hornaday of Washington Post (7/0)
            A supernatural fantasy action adventure whose combination of whimsy and gothic melodrama seems to...

By Daniel M. Kimmel of Worcester Telegram & Gazette (7/0)
            Stardust will either usher in a new interest in fantasy films for grown-ups, or else become one o...

By Susan Granger of www.susangranger.com (7/0)
            It's an enchanting sword 'n' sorcery fairy tale - this summer's playful 'date movie,' culminating...

By John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Pure imaginative escapism...

By Chad Greene of Boxoffice Magazine (6/1) No reference
            Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman’s well-structured screenplay unfolds like a Princess Bride for th...

By Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader (6/1) No reference
            I'm a sucker for fantasies, but this one is so undistinguished and arbitrary that it left few tra...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By James Sanford of Kalamazoo Gazette (6/1) No reference
            a delightful, thrilling and entertainingly offbeat yarn... Pfeiffer is positively spellbinding......

By Robert W. Butler of Kansas City Star (6/1) No reference
            The biggest drawback is that young stars Cox and Danes are insufferably colorless. Automatons cou...

By Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly (6/1) No reference
            While Stardust gets the overall fantasy tone right, it stumbles in the details.

By Connie Ogle of Miami Herald (6/1) No reference
            The most surprising thing about Stardust is that its most winning element is neither its delightf...

By Colin Covert of Minneapolis Star Tribune (5/2) No reference
            The story respects the captivating power of fairy tales, while humorously twisting them a bit.

By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (6/1) No reference
            Modern without being post-modern, ironic without air-quotes, romantic without apology, this is a ...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Stephen Holden of New York Times (6/1) No reference
            The movie assumes that its churning energy, lightened with whimsy, will carry the day. And, to an...

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (6/1) No reference
            Look deeply into Stardust and all you see is a slightly diluted Princess Bride, and a happily-eve...

By David Ansen of Newsweek (6/1) No reference
            Vaughn, who made the enjoyably tricky gangster movie Layer Cake, gets points for ambition, but th...

By Shawn Levy of Oregonian (6/1) No reference
            Stardust in a nutshell: hardly great shakes, but better and more satisfying than it first seems.

By Mike Sage of Peterborough This Week (3/4) No reference
            The cast is dynamite and funny%u2014particularly the cute hero Charlie Cox, the vain witch Michel...

By Brian Tallerico of UGO (6/1) No reference
            The kind of genre-defying project that even an old hat like Peter Jackson would struggle with ton...

                         Reviews of Stardust
By Mark Dujsik of UR Chicago Magazine (3/4) No reference
            A delightful fantasy, part good-natured ribbing of conventions but still entirely charming and en...

By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (6/1) Not Reachable
            Stardust takes a standard structure -- young hero of unrecognized worth goes on a quest to save a...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (3/4) Not Reachable
            Claire Danes may play a fallen star, but the real star in this pic is the visuals.

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (5/2) Not Reachable
            The strained, too-long Stardust is way off the mark.

Movie Distributors
Paramount Pictures

Production Companies
di Bonaventura Pictures
Marv Films

Movie Studios
Paramount Pictures