Stardust (2007)

Stardust is a fast-paced fantasy that doesn't really take the time to develop characters and scenery besides it's main antagonist. It's an interesting combination of "cute" romance and humor that operates very similar to Monty Python's humor involving death, minus the gore. This was advertised as a kids movie you know.

A few performances here shine above the rest, like who plays Captain Shakespeare, a feminine pirate captain of an air ship who hides behind a guise of masculinity to impress his crew. Another role, which is strikingly minor, is David Kelly's portrayal of the guardian of the village wall.

Stardust has lots of potential to be a very well crafted fantasy that rivals many other popular cult-classic fantasy films (i.e. Willow, Legend) but shows obvious signs of being rushed. It accomplishes what it can in a rather short run time, but could be much more with at least another thirty minutes that the studio probably just wouldn't give up. Granted that Matthew Vaughn is a new director, such misfortunes should be expected. Hell, he's lucky this one got a theater release.