Saw the movie yesterday. Read the book quite a while ago. Twice now, actually. Enjoyed them both immensely. Fortunately bucking the usual book-to-film tradition, the movie was not hampered in its storytelling. Sure, some things changed. Quite a few fun characters that I would’ve loved to see weren’t involved anymore. The hairy gnome. The lion. Tori Amos as the talking tree. Some of the more clever subplots had to be scrapped for sake of time.
But all in all, they preserved the charm and winsomeness of the story. The wife and I both agree that Yvaine could’ve been better cast, and that center stage was stolen from the main protagonists by Robert De Niro’s prancing Captain Shakespeare, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s wicked witch. Those provided the most laugh-worthy bits, I thought.
The music was excellent as well. Sometimes in a movie, the music is just white-noise filler, designed to distract you or provide an occasional emotional swell right before the unlikely couple liplocks. In Stardust, I found myself enjoying the adventurous tunes along with the incredible backdrops that the story flew along and over.
What’s the movie about? In essence, it’s a coming of age tale, where a boy becomes a man and finds true love. Can’t get much more basic than that. But the romp that Tristan goes through in order to reach that happy ending is far from ordinary or banal. All the delightful surprises and quirky humor makes this one of the most satisfying movies I’ve seen in a while. Of course, considering movie prices out here in NYC, I certainly haven’t been funding any movie exec’s lunch break recently.
I see that smile.