Stardust

I just can't for the life of me figure out why this movie did so poorly at the box office. I got Stardust from Netflix yesterday and sat down to watch it hoping for something good but believing it would be something bad after a few reviews and the poor box office results it got.

This is a great fantasy/fairy tale! Well acted throughout. Michelle Pfeiffer is great as the main witch, Robert DeNiro is hilarious as the "rough and tough" pirate captain (and his men give him great support), Charlie Cox plays the main hero, Tristan, with just the right amount of bravado and naivety, Claire Danes (always a favorite) gives a surprisingly warm and confident performance as Yvaine. The supporting cast is superb.

The story is a good one, involving a dreamer who wishes to marry the pretty but stuck up girl in his home town going to a fantasy realm to fetch her a fallen star. However, it turns out the star is a person. He then gets sort of roped into an adventure involving the star as people are out to get both her and the necklace she wears. Along the way, the star and the hero fall for each other.

Note: While I own the book, I cannot comment on how closely the movie follows it, as I haven't read it yet. It is somewhat buried in my stack of things to read at the moment.

The effects are well done, although mostly CGI, and the music is a nice accompaniment to the movie (whereas some fantasy films overdo the music).

Lastly, and what I liked the most about it, is that the story didn't play down to children. It is perfectly accessible and entertaining to both kids and adults. This movie succeeded where some recent fairy tales (Brothers Grimm, for example) simply missed the mark.

Why didn't this do better at the box office? At least the rest of the world seemed to have picked up on this little gem; the domestic was only $38 million but the foreign was just shy of $100 million.

If you like fairy tales or fantasy stories, I highly recommend it.