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Stardust Movie
Wow. I just saw Stardust yesterday and I don’t think I have seen a more fun and feel good movie all summer. The special effects, scenery, and costuming are of course gorgeous and it’s a very fantastical movie, but at heart, it’s just a damn happy trip through a faerie world. No giant wars with lions and centaurs, no “must save teh world”, or anything like that, just true love and adventure. I came out of the movie feeling utterly content and happy, as did my roommate.
Now, I only started the book this week and I’m about a third of the way through it. All the changes that I noticed were to simply made to make it work better as a movie. The original book has a lot of word play and elements that work much better on the page than on the screen, so those elements had to be reinvisioned. Still, it’s almost trivial and I think if I’d read the book six months ago, I’d not have noticed most of the changes.
As soon as I finish the book, you’ll probably get a review of it. I started it many summers ago, but never got past the first chapter for some reason. Oddly enough, I’d just happened to bring Howl’s Moving Castle and Stardust on a trip to Chicago with me, and on that same trip we managed to see the new Studio Ghibili film of Howl and a local theater stage adaptation of Stardust. Even odder, both books deal with the same poem. It was just an odd trip I suppose (though absolutely wonderful, as I also got to see Wicked for the first time, also a book I’d just finished reading) and somehow, the actual book of Stardust just got lost among all the other excitements. So I’m finally reading it now, and loving it so far. In fact, as soon as I finish telling you how great the movie was, I’ll get back to reading it.
Really, if you only want to see one movie this summer, you must see this one. It’s everything a book adaptation should be. I was trying to think of another movie to compare it to, but the only ones I could come up with are Princess Bride and the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Like those movies, it’s fun, light-hearted, witty, and full of swashbuckling adventure.
Interivew with Neil Gaiman about Stardust on Myspace TV
For parents – it is rated PG-13, and has a bit of dark sorcery and such. Definitely no worse that the current Harry Potter movie (personally I think it’s a bit tamer) and there is also some sexual innuendo. I’ve seen a few reviews that call this a fairytale for grownups, and I do think that the older audience will get the subtleties better. If you aren’t sure, see it yourself first then go see it a second time with the kids.
On another note, to anyone who comments on the blog – I will try to get your comments approved as fast as possible, but spammers seem to love leaving fake comments about where we can buy cheap Viagra. Now since I’m sure you’re cheap Viagra needs are being fulfilled by your e-mail, I’ve got moderation on so I can delete those. Of course that seems to mean that its about 20 fakes to one real comment, so sometimes it takes me a day to realize a real comment actually snuck in. My apologizes. At least, once I approve you once, you may make as many comments as you want and they will instantly appear!
Sounds like fun! I confess, though, that I haven’t read (let alone seen) Stardust. But I have read Wicked and Howl’s Moving Castle (awesome books!).
Well, Stardust just opened yesterday, so you can be forgiven for now ^_^.
The musical of Wicked is a hundred times better than the book, IMO, just becuase its a lot more upbeat and character driven. The book has some very history bookish moments to me.
I love Howl’s Moving Castle. And I love the anime movie as well, though they are two rather different creatures. Have you read the sequel to Howl? Um, Castle in the Air I think, or something like that. Interesting, but not nearly as good I thought.
No, I haven’t read the sequel, but most of the time, I believe the “orginal” is always the best. (And I don’t think I’ll be able to see Stardust, at least in a couple of years, but only if they show it here in this country (Indonesia. Yep, I’m not in the US anymore))
And I’ve seen the musical Wicked and the anime of Howl’s Moving Castle (I agree about the “two different creatures” part), but I have to say that I liked the book slightly better than that of the musical. But both were pretty great
The sequel for Howls is kind of a sideways sequel. Most of the characters make apperances, but its about a new character and it is based more on Arabian fairytales.
Poor you -_- I’d hate living in another country and missing out on movie releases. I guess thats what the internet was invented for… not that I woud *ever* encourage using it for bad purposes…………..
I think I liked the Wicked musical better becuase I felt like Elphaba was a real character in the musical, where as in the book, she seemed more of a tool for the writer to tell his story. The book didn’t feel like it was as much about the Wicked Witch of the West, as it was trying to explain everything that led up to The Wizard of Oz movie. And I’ve been told that the book takes more off of the movie than the original books *shrug* but I’ve never read the original books.
Of course, I just love anything set to music.
*Smiles* Well, here they do have a movie theatre, and it has some “American” movies, but I’m not sure if they have “Stardust”… I’ll have to check on it sooner or later!
I’ve never read the original books either, but I have seen The Wizard of Oz. (Oh, and I only saw Wicked by chance since my friend’s sister didn’t want to go — and they already had a ticket for her. So I went in her stead : )
Music is wonderful, isn’t it? Not so much the lyrics (although they are definitely a big part, but not all “songs” have to have words), but the melody behind everything… There goes my wandering/rambling self…
I’m horrible, I’d see any musical. They could do a musical about the phone book, and I’d be there. Heck, in the next month, I’m going to see Spamalot (second time) and the pre-broadway showings of Young Frankenstein and Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Thankfully, I only had to pay for one myself, the others are birthday presents, or else I wouldn’t be seeing Spamalot again. I also just saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrals last month. I should do a review of musicals some time, there are a few good fantasy ones out there, like Wicked, Into the Woods, Camelot (and Spamalot ^_^), Once Upon A Mattress, Beauty and the Beast, and Peter Pan. I’m guessing Little Mermaid will be good as well. Though most of my favorites aren’t fantasy - Sweeny Todd, Les Miserables, Aida (well, thats arguable), and Whistle Down the Wind. Though I suppose most good musicals have an element of the fantastical - something that wouldn’t happen in our oridinary life.
I’m disapointed at the amount of love Stardust is getting at the theaters -_- Had a bad opening weekend, only came in fourth. But there are a lot of big action movies out right now and most fantasy movies tend to not open that well, but have a consistent long run, especially once DVDs are figured in.