Movie review: Stardust

Stardust is the "The Princess Bride" and "Legend" for this generation. This is the first thing that I thought leaving the theater after an impulse of movie roulette hit me (my original intent was to see The Bourne Ultimatum). But Stardust was the next movie up, I'd heard that it was good, and I really enjoyed Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", so I decided to see it.

I'm glad I did.


This is a fantasy movie that doesn't rely on hordes of CGI armies, it relies on story and character. I could certainly empathize with Tristan, having pined over a fair number of unattainable girls in my youth. And the whole "Wall" analogy is a very apt one. While I'm certain that this movie would have been even better with a date (it is a love story at its core), I still enjoyed it immensely.

While it doesn't have the comedic take full of one-liners like Princess Bride, I still think that people who love that movie will love this one. I will certainly be adding it to my DVD collection and if the theater in Circle Center had any sense they'd promote this movie at GenCon. Because like Tristan, a lot of gamers would love to be able to cross over to a magical realm, save beautiful girls that happen to be celestial beings, fly with lightning pirates, duel back-stabbing princes and uppity bullies and battle evil witches.

Speaking of which,I am also fascinated by the tidbits we get of the Kingdom of Stormhold, the fantastic realm beyond the Wall. Part of my mind immediately set to game conversion. Once I got the magic rules down, it would be easy.

While it earns its PG-13 rating with princely brothers bumping each other off almost as a family sport and wicked witches wanting to carve the living heart out of a fallen star and eat it, it should be fine for kids that aren't too sensitive.

I give Stardust 5 out of 5 flying lightning-pirate monkeys.