I read Neil Gaiman's book several years ago and liked it quite a bit. However, I think in this case, rare as it is for me to say this, I liked the movie even more. It's a little too long, but that's the only fault I can find with it. Movies like this, for whatever reason, seem to drag out their endings, and this one's no different. Aside from that, though, I loved it.Fine performances all around. Michelle Pfeiffer is maybe more beautiful than ever. Robert DiNiro seems to be having a wonderful time, and Claire Danes is a lovely star, not that Sienna Miller is bad, herself. The lightning-catcher airship is everything you could ask, and while I'd never seen Charlie Cox before, or at least that I remember, he was dandy as the young hero.
I seem to remember that Stardust was a disappointment at the box office. I have no idea why that would be. I thought it was a fine piece of entertainment. I guess not everbody likes the same things I do. Imagine that.
4 comments:
Not a huge disappointment, but not a smash, either. My only guesses run along the lines of 1) most people still assume that high fantasy is for kids (not that there's much here you wouldn't trust a 10yo to see, unless you're a loon), 2) that homosexuality is treated reasonably nonjudgementally (see loon reference above), and 3) the studio wasn't particularly behind it, and cut a US trailer (which I've managed not to see) which was Awful.
I found it unprofound, but liked it even better than the Disney fantasy last year, the also good ENCHANTED. And, yes, the female cast, including Kate Magowan as Una, leans toward the striking.
It probably says something about me that Enchanted is winging its way here from Netflix even now.
I doubt you'll be sorry. As I've mentioned, I think on James Reasoner's blog, one interesting element of ENCHANTED is the employment of older dancers (something that didn't fully register till I saw the dvd the other weekend with my housemate--we'd seen it in the theater when it was new)...I'm not sure how many were lured out of retirement, but you don't see too many older dancers getting too much work.
Also, it's rather amusing that Idina Menzel was hired for a non-singing part in a musical. I'm sure she punches up some of the group vocals...do take a look at the extras.
Thanks for the tip; I usually don't check the extras.
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