Stardust
“Fairytales
just got
grittier. Stardust is a
delightful fantasy
adventure with nice
touches of humour,
great special effects
and enough excitement
to keep you enthralled
from beginning to end....”
BRILLIANTLY INTRODUCED BY THE VOICE OF IAN MCKELLEN, every-thing you could
wish for is here in the magical story, Stardust:
A handsome hero, a beautiful heroine, a unicorn, romance, witches, potions,
enchantment, treachery, murder, a handful of power-hungry princes —
not all of them of this world — and sky pirates with a fantastic
galleon-airship.
A curious young man, Dunstan Thorn (Ben Barnes), tricks The Guard (David Kelly)
into letting him through a gap in The Wall — a portal into the forbidden
magical kingdom of Stormhold, where he meets Una
(Kate Magowan) who claims to be a princess tricked into being a witch's slave.
She gives him a snowdrop and takes him into a yellow gypsy caravan. Nine months
later, The Guard brings Dunstan a basket with a baby boy — named Tristan
— inside.
Eighteen years pass and Tristan (talented newcomer Charlie Cox) grows up, living
with his father (now played by Nathaniel Parker). His heart is set on the prettiest
girl in the village of Wall, flirty Victoria (Sienna Miller, Alfie),
who already has a suitor, Humphrey (Henry Cavill) and delights in playing one
off against the other.
Meanwhile, there is a vicious power struggle in Stormhold, as the
King (Peter O'Toole) is dying and his sons vie to be the next ruler of the land
— even stooping to killing their brothers in the fight for the throne.
Just before he dies, the King flings his ruby pendant into the
air and it drains of colour. He tells the princes that only he of royal blood
can restore the colour to the ruby, but try as they might to catch it, the pendant
flies out of the window and lands among the stars where it causes a shooting
star to fall from the sky.
Victoria sees the shooting star and challenges Tristan to cross the wall to
Stormhold to bring her back the fallen star, in order to win her love. But all
is not as it seems and over in Stormhold Yvaine (Claire Danes, Romeo and
Juliet), a lovely ethereal young blonde maiden, is lying in the crater where
the star landed. She reaches out her hand and slips the pendant over her neck…
So, just as his father did before him, Tristan foils The Guard and runs through
the gap in the wall into Stormhold, with the Babylon Candle his mother left
in his basket safely hidden in his clothes.
But on the far side of the kingdom, three ugly old witches led by Lamia (a delightfully
evil Michelle Pfeiffer) plot to seek out the fallen star and kill her to steal
her heart, which will give them eternal youth. And the princes have already
set out to find the ruby and claim the throne…
In his quest to win the hand of Victoria, Tristan will need all his resolve
to survive in Stormhold. He will need to outwit the witches and the princes
— all of whom are determined that nothing should stand in their way; endure
captivity by the sky pirates, magnificently led by Robert De Niro as Captain
Shakespeare; and win his love and find his lost mother, who left him with much
more than he could ever have imag-ined. He will also need to protect Yvaine
from the many dangers they face and risk all for the woman he loves.
Stardust is highly amusing and exciting, with all the right ingredients
for a successful movie. One-liners are great: Yvaine, on encountering Tristan,
calls him a "magical flying moron"; and when meeting the pirates, tells Tristan:
"Captured by pirates, having my heart torn out
or belonging to Victoria — I can't decide which is more fun." And
would you really call a star "stupid cow"?!
Paramount Home Entertainment Presents Stardust, the fairytale that won't
behave! An all-star cast — including sparkling British talent and a huge
cast of Hollywood heavyweights — lights up this epic, critically-acclaimed
fantasy adventure from renowned director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake).
Other worthy stars include Rupert Everett (Shrek The Third) as Prince
Secundus; Jason Flemying (Layer Cake) as Prince Primus; Mark Heap
as Prince Tertius, David Walliams (Little Britain) as Prince Sextus and
comedian Ricky Gervais as the hapless Ferdy the Fence. With such esteemed support,
there is little doubt that Stardust will blaze a trail
of glory across the hearts and minds of fans of all ages throughout
the UK. The perfect Mother's Day gift, Stardust is based on the novel
written by Neil Gaiman (illustrated by Charles Vess) and will delight and enchant
everyone.
The director of photography was Ben Davis, the gorgeous costumes are down to
costume designer Sammy Sheldon and the magical music was by Ilan Eshkeri. The
film was dedicated to the memory of Mark Burns, who played the new Bishop and
the Visual Effects Supervisor was Peter Chiang.
• Smash box office hit Stardust —
produced by Matthew Vaughn (Director) and Lorenzo di Bonaventura and co-written
by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (both British) — is available on DVD
and
HD DVD from 25 February (2008).
DVD/HD DVD Special Features: Commentary by writer and director Matthew Vaughn
and writer Jane Goldman. RRP DVD £19.99; HD DVD £24.99 | Cert PG | Sound Dolby
Digital Surround Sound | Running
Time 100 minutes.
“Fairytales
just got