The Hindu : Karnataka News : Light, whimsy and compelling viewing film reviews

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Sunday, Nov 04, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Light, whimsy and compelling viewing film reviews

Stardust (English)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Charlie Cox, Claire Danes

With all that the Lord of The Rings and Harry Potters of the world have done to fantasy, it is always a pleasant surprise to see films that manage to bring the whimsical back into the fantastic.

The latest in that all too short line of films is “Stardust”, adapted from a novel by the master storyteller Neil Gaiman.

The tale is packed with three decrepit witches determined to eat the heart of a fallen star to regain their youth, royal princes killing each other to gain the throne, a fallen star in the shape of a woman and a dashing young man determined to take the star back home so he can marry the love of his life.

Oh, and there’s a ship full of lightning-stealing pirates too. But for all the standard ingredients of a fighting fantasy, “Stardust” does very little swashbuckling.

Instead, it breaks with convention wherever possible, playing out as quirky as imaginable.

Take the pirate captain, for instance: Robert De Niro is at his campy best in this picture, all piss and vinegar above decks and doing everything from couture coiffeurs to the can-can downstairs.

Then there’s Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia, the eldest of three witches who can have mortality if they cut out the heart of a live star and eat it.

An incredible actor, Pfeiffer commands almost all the attention in the picture as her character careens from age and decay to short-lived youth and back to horrifyingly old.

Much of the humour in this light and airy tale really belongs to the actress, whose brave and natural performance often makes her a more endearing character than the fallen star Yvaine (Claire Danes being all too whiny and self-obsessed). In the beginning, the warring princes, imaginatively named Primus, Secundus, Tertius and so on, and their attempts to kill off each other take the limelight.

Particularly because the dead brothers’ ghosts form one of the most hilarious choruses one has recently seen.

And later, Pfeiffer’s Lamia takes over.

Much of the problem lies in the rather distressing lack of chemistry between Cox and Danes.

Sub-plots

Difficulties also arise, perhaps because of the number of ideas and sub-plots packed into just over two hours of the film. Director Matthew Vaughn handles most of the story with delicacy and insight, but it almost seems as if with all that’s going on in the film, he and fellow writer Jane Goldman don’t have the time and space to think of romance too.

And anyway, seeing the way “Stardust” turns out, one wonders if that isn’t a good thing.

RAKESH MEHAR

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