I have been following Stardust for a long time, ever since Neil Gaiman began posting news from production on his website about a year ago. I never managed to make it to the theater to see the film, but I planned all along to pick it up on DVD. Well, I don’t have a DVD yet, but I’ll certainly be buying a copy soon. Thanks to the new iTunes movie rental service, I watched Stardust last night and it is fantastic.
The plot is simple, but immensely entertaining:
In Victorian England there is a small village called Wall. Running along the border of the villiage there is a low stone wall, which nobody is ever supposed to cross. One night a young man crosses the wall and finds himself in a magical marketplace, where he spends a single night with a beautiful, lonely slave girl. He returns to Wall and nine months later a son is delivered to him in a basket.
Years later, that son (Tristan) finds himself on the other side of the wall, seeking a fallen star. He has promised his love, a stuck-up town beauty, that he will bring her the star to prove his love. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that the star is nothing less than a beautiful woman names Yvaine, who has been knocked from her heavenly home by a flying ruby, thrown by the dying king of Stormhold.
That ruby sets up a darkly comedic subplot, in which the four (very quickly three) princes of Stormhold search for the ruby and try to kill one another, cheered on the while by the ghosts of the three (four, five…) princes who have already been killed. Because the Yvaine is in possession of the ruby, she (and Tristan) become the object of the murderous princes’ quest.
Added to this already entertaining setup are three withered old hags who hope to attain beauty and immortality by murdering the star and eating her heart. One of them sets out to find and kill Yvaine, while the other two stay at home tearing through the entrails of various animals in hopes of divining clues to the star’s location.
Pursued by three (two, one) murderous princes and a vicious witch, Tristan and Yvaine attempt to make their way back to Wall, where Tristan has promised to help Yvaine get back to the sky after she helps him win the heart of his love. Of course, they begin to fall in love along the way, as Tristan realizes how vain his girl back in Wall is, and Yvaine begins to admire Tristan’s selfless devotion. The two of them are helped along their journey by a crew of lightning farmers, who sail through storms in a fantastical airship. I will not spoil the surprise of Captain Shakespeare’s true personality, except to say that Robert Deniro has rarely been so fearsome, nor so kind, in a single brief appearance.
So there you have it: murderous brothers, ruthless witches, boisterous sky sailors, and a young man finding true love with a star. All strung together by witty banter and comedic irony in a steampunk fantasy kingdom. Stardust may not be the deepest of films, but for pure fun and sweet romance, it is one of my favorites of the year.
