Stardust

With the recent success of fantasy movies like The Chronicles of Narnia and the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was probably inevitable that a whole string of knockoffs would arrive. The first is Stardust, a crazy fairy tale that probably also owes a lot to the spirit of Monty Python and particularly The Princess Bride. With plenty of terrifying witches, flying pirate ships, and every imaginable storybook-type character thrown into the mix, this lighthearted period romp tries a little too hard at times to weave its magic wand and keep us under its wicked spell. But when it works, it works, especially with the surprising amount of throwaway adult humor not usually found in this kind of summer "product." The story centers on a young guy named Tristan (Charlie Cox), who in trying to win the affection of a stuck-up lass named Victoria (Sienna Miller). In doing so, he agrees to bring her a fallen star on the other side of the magical wall. The star—which turns out to be alive in the human form of Claire Danes—finds herself trapped in a magical place where she is on the run from witches and princes all out to gain control of the kingdom. Chief among this group is Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer, a riot in her second evil role this summer), a witch out to use the star to hang on to eternal youth and beauty. Along for the ride is a cross-dressing sea captain (Robert De Niro, in his homage to Johnny Depp) and many other amusing characters imported from the original graphic novel by Neil Gaiman. Well cast and smartly directed by Matthew Vaughn, who also did the wildly different and gritty Layer Cake, this colorful confection is better than it has any right to be, and not a bad way to live happily ever after—if only for a couple of hours.