Stardust (2007, GBR/USA) C-127m. SCOPE ** D: Matthew Vaughn. Starring Ben Barnes, Clare Danes, Sienna Miller, Henry Cavill, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Everett, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais. Fantasy adventure based on a book by Neil Gaiman about a fantasy world in 19th century England which can be accessed through a hole in a stone wall. A young man fathers a child with an imprisoned princess there, many years later the son, who grew up in the real world, has the chance to become the prince, if he can find magic stone before an evil witch. Despite swift pace, this has too much of everything, too much wacky humor, too much violence and in the end it doesn't gel - unless watching De Niro in women's clothes is your idea of fun. Even Danes seems miscast.



© Ron Altman