Stardust Review

I didn't want to buy Stardust at all. In fact I only bought it because I needed something which wouldn't make me physically sick to pad out my 3 for 2 offer. I wanted to watch it even less (not watching films I own is quite common for me. As an example: I own an unopened collection of all the Jurassic Park films. It has been unopened for four months now. I will never open it). In fact I only watched it to make the cynical little voices in my head shut up.

I'm building up a massive psychological case study on this website.

Anyway, Stardust is based on a Neil Gaiman novel of the same name and whilst I must admit that I'm not exactly a massive fan of Gaiman's (I was a little put off by American Gods and the army of people who seem to believe that he has never written a bad novel. Popularity is not becoming of someone with his style) I must admit that his storytelling does posses some originality. Stardust is, unfortunately, not subject to this admittance.

The plot revolves around...

The story begins with...

My usual approach to describing plot seems to be useless here (look I've used both of my sentence openings) so I think I'll try something else.

Yeah. That works.

I'm probably being too harsh, the plot isn't that hard to follow once you get past the astronomical number of plot holes. It's not even that badly written, it just has massive issues with tone and pace, often including comic moments in scenes which appear to be serious. Dialogue is a little ham-handed in place but it never becomes annoying (except for one scene. You'll know when you get there.) and action neatly placed within the narrative. The openings just a little hard to convey that's all.

As far as acting goes Stardust is outstandingly well furnished for something that delivers so little. With giants like Robert De Nero (The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) on board I'd at least expect something passable from the majority of the actors. However, besides a few fleeting displays of brilliance from De Nero every line of dialogue delivered in Stardust seems forced, unrealistic and completely lacking of charisma due to this fact.

Overall, Stardust isn't appalling. I despise it but it isn't appalling. The semi-literate plot and dialogue alongside De Nero's performance make this a worthwhile rent if you need something to watch with your children or you're a huge Gaiman fan. No, those aren't compatible.

4/10