Tuesday, October 26, 2010

DVD pick: Stardust

Wow... this movie's only three years old, so I don't know how I didn't notice it come through the theaters. Maybe I did, and dismissed it as kiddie fare, but the PG-13 gives the lie to that.

So, what's it like? Well, it's a "cross-worlds" fantasy tale about a young English land entering a magical realm in pursuit of a gift for the girl he thinks he loves. It's also a tale of the remaining scions of a newly-dead king vying for the throne. It's also the tale of a lady escaping the clutches of a group of evil witches who want to sacrifice her for their own ends. It's all these, intertwined, plus a couple of side stories, nigh-on-perfectly meshed, sprinkled with dark, wry humor, with some great actors in key roles to boot. Particularly memorable to my mind are Robert de Niro as Captain Shakespeare, whose position and circumstances are difficult to describe at best, and Peter O'Toole as the dying King of Stormhold, deliciously wicked and somewhat disappointed that his sons haven't "worked out" the succession yet... oh, and of course, the ghosts of the sons that died, who serve a great spectator/color commentary role on the whole proceedings.

I enjoyed this movie immensely, and I can think of very few people that I wouldn't recommend it to... if you're not sure, here's a link to the IMDb page for more details.

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