DVD reviews: Stardust – Issue 68

Subtitled ‘A Fairy Tale That Won’t Behave’, Stardust somehow fails to strike the right balance, with a story that’s seems fit for children, but content that – despite its rating – would prove too adult for them.

There’s much to recommend this sci-fi fantasy – the highlight being the itinerant band of ghost brothers who punctuate the movie with their comedy routines – but it too often feels oddly piecemeal (right down to the wrong-footed cameo appearance by Ricky Gervais of The Office), and there are too many distractions to take you out of the fantasy world you’re supposed to be disappearing into.

Even Michelle Pfeiffer seems to be replaying past glories as a beautiful but particularly nasty witch, and the essential idea – that a star can assume human form as a gorgeous, almost-young woman (Claire Danes) – is simply unbelievable.

Add to this some over-the-top but unconvincing CG, and Stardust will probably end up as one of those movies that interminably plays on Sky to audiences more interested in catching cameo performances by the likes of Robert De Niro than bothering with the film as a whole.

But then again, it gets a healthy 75 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and my wife thoroughly enjoyed it… so perhaps it’s just not a ‘guy thing’.

GARY STEEL