Stardust by Ilan Eshkeri

Just the Other Side of the Wall
Review by Christopher Coleman

As the summer of 2007 tails away, director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) brings Neil Gaiman's graphic novel, STARDUST, to the big screen. With a stellar-cast such as: Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfieffer, Peter O' Toole, and the narration of Sir Ian McKellen, the film would seem to be in good hands in that department. Bringing on composer Ilan Eshkeri was also a promising move. Although his engaging score was poorly represented on the DARK KINGDOM: THE DRAGON KING soundtrack, what was evident in the two tracks that did find their way onto that release was that Eshkeri could do fantasy. STARDUST would afford him the perfect opportunity stretch his legs more fully.

STARDUST is an interesting film - dubbed an adult-romantic-fantasy. It has drawn comparisons to Rob Reiner's classic THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but such comparison's are misplaced. Vaughn's movie does tell its fairy-tale story with subtle wink, but it doesn't approach clever and classic humor of THE PRINCESS BRIDE. On the other side of things, STARDUST has its moments, but certainly doesn't take itself as seriously as many fantasy films do. This film is just a hard film to qualify...which makes the movie experience a little awkward while remaining enjoyable. Further confusing the issue of categorization is STARDUST's sumptuously serious score.


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