Stardust
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro
PG-13
Paramount Home Entertainment
On sale: Dec. 18, 2007

Stardust was one of my most anticipated films of the year. Given its light-hearted adult-oriented fairy tale adventure premise, I knew it’d be something I’d enjoy. Add on the fact that it was adapted from one of my favorite novels written by my most favorite author Neil Gaiman, and you get a movie that’s made just for me.

My biggest fear — as always with adaptations — was, would director and co-screenwriter Matthew Vaughn get it right? Previous to Stardust, Vaughn directed the action flick Layer Cake, which is far from a fantastical special effects masterpiece. Then I read that when setting out to make this movie, Vaughn was going for “Princess Bride meets Midnight Run” (a statement the director reiterates in the “Making Of” featurette on this DVD release) — not a bad combination.

While the director mostly follows the outline of Gaiman’s novel, the look, feel, and pace of Stardust is all Vaughn’s. Yes, the screenwriters (Vaughn co-wrote the script with Jane Goldman) took a few liberties with the story, which I’m willing to overlook because I feel that they were worthy additions. What Vaughn managed to do is take this quaint little love story about a young man who seeks a fallen star to bring back to his love, and injects it with fast-paced energy, humor, and plenty of action.

Newcomer Charlie Cox is perfectly cast as Tristan Thorn, a naive young man who leaves his village for the first time to find a fallen star to give as a birthday gift to the girl he loves, the snobbish Victoria (Sienna Miller). Little does Tristan know that what he seeks is much more than just rock and that he’s not the only one who wants it. An evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) is also hunting the star, as are the would-be heirs of the nearby kingdom of Stormhold, putting Tristan and the beautiful star Yvaine (Claire Danes) in grave danger.

My biggest problem with the film when I saw it in the theater was that it just wasn’t long enough. Stardust had the makings of an epic fantasy with quality CGI and a cast of fine actors, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Claire Danes. I only wish the film had been given an adequate trailer and a bigger marketing campaign, then perhaps this DVD would have been loaded with bonus features (like I was hoping), rather then a simple one-disc edition. Yes, the DVD includes a few deleted scenes (nothing major) and a blooper reel (most of which isn’t so funny), but what this release really needed was some director commentary!

Luckily, there is a “Making Of” featurette that’s totally worth watching, more than once even. It’s only 30 minutes (again, wish it was longer), but it does include tons of interviews with the Vaughn, Gaiman, and Goldman, as well as several members of the cast and visual effects and design crews.

Vaughn, who is new to special effects, said that he believes you “should only use CGI when you have to use CGI,” which is a smart attitude to have. You can tell the director took great care in deciding which effects to have created, and it’s obvious that his lack of experience in this area wasn’t a hindrance. One of the greatest aspects of the film in terms of effects and design was Captain Shakepeare’s stunning flying pirate ship, which was created with CGI. But a full-size version of the ship’s deck was actually built on a set, and in the featurette, we get to see the makings of the deck and how the CGI was incorporated; we also get Gaiman’s thoughts on the ship’s creation.

Even as a single-disc edition, the Stardust DVD is worth picking up and watching several times — I’ve already watched it half a dozen times. With each viewing I enjoy the film even more so than my already favorable movie review professed.