Stardust

[Susan]

Anyone seen this film? I caught it last night, I always liked fairy tale type movies, except the brothers grimm..lol  But growing up i was into Krull, Dragonslayer and the like.

My PROBLEM is that some movies that went this route always have to add a comedic tone. I could never figure out why they tried to lighten and sugar coat the movie unless they were trying to bring in the younger crowd of kids. Like Labyrinth went from dark to downright corny with singing puppets. And Willow as well, it didn't know whether to be a fantasy or a comedy. That's why i admire "dragonslayer" so much, only a few funny moments but they are not meant to go over the top.

Now STARDUST has those moments, a lot of them. So if you like a good laugh then i'd recommend this film. I think they were trying to appeal to everyone, women with the romance, men with the action and kids with the comedy. I dunno, i always see how a film could be better improved, even if it meant not drawing as large of a crowd. But in any case I found this movie to be enjoyable for what it was, i really love a good fantasy film that takes me completely out of this world.

However i'm quite quizzicle to the preview i saw for "Across the Universe", anyone see THAT trailer? LOL

[Zapranoth]

Susan, you should read Stardust, if you haven't.

[Him]

The main audience for Fantasy and Science Fiction is children. If kids aren't interested in it, it won't sell. There just aren't enough adult Fantasy and Sci-fi fans to carry  a movie.

With that being said, I would say that kids don't nessessarily need silly corny gags to like a Fantasy movie. But the movie does have to be fun, and the plot has to move quickly.

[Susan]

i'm sure the book is better, who is the author? I'll put it on my "to find" list when i'm at halfprice books. The plot itself is really good

Why dumb down a movie to appeal to kids tho? I mean i was the kid who hated the dumbed down movies, i loved a good serious dark action film. Seems like filmmakers always have to add 'hokeyness' to an otherwise good movie.

The movie admittedly had a weird mix of comedy and gore, moments where you are watching something disgusting and suddenly there are ghosts cracking jokes. I guess it's to distract you from the traumatic movie scene you are experiencing..either that or keeping it from going to an R rating..lol

Overall it was still a really good escape film that I enjoyed. And with that being said, I haven't gone to a movie in probably over a year..i really can't even remember. It isn't really that sad, given there hasn't really been much out in theaters worth paying the $8.75 for. This one was, mainly because the special effects look good on a big screen.

[sideorderofninjas]

Neil Gaiman is the author...

[Zapranoth]

Is halfprice books some kind of web thing?   I will send you my copy if you want.

I'll warn you, I'll bet the movie is not even close, though, to the atmosphere the book creates.

Neil Gaiman writes one of the weirdest combinations of piercingly beautiful, grim and tightly wound prose I've ever read.     Stardust is definitely a fairy tale, punctuated with moments of utter brutality and very sly wit.    It was in no way written for children.  I think you'll enjoy it a lot.

Also read:  _American Gods_, _Neverwhere_, and if you really want your blood curdled, _Smoke and Mirrors_.

(before you think it, his writing isn't a bit like the craptastic Anne Rice's.)

[Zombo Horselips]

    AARRGGHH!! This movie was so bad, bad, bad. Big budget makes it all the worse. Horrible ridiculous dumbed-down fantasy where some things are accepted as a magical fact of life, in the next instant it's "What? That's certyaimly odd" Robert De Niro, for shame. Stop with all the bad roles. Hold out for the good stuff. Michelle Pfeiffer--still hot, yes. It ain't enough. I get so angry thinking about ther 90 minutes I wasted ( I could not make it the whole lenght of that merde'-- please stop with all these stupid Narnia-Eragon-Spyderwick junk--fantasy needs to be well thought out. Stardust should be ground into dust. Hated it. Oh, the humanity. Gradez. Z-. Beligrentley yours,  Zombo...

[Zapranoth]

Have you read the book, Zombo?

[Neville]

I liked this one a lot. Fantasy films these days are so terribly bland and boring that it was nice to see one that kept surprising me in all the right moments. The pace it's a bit uneven towards the end, but I like the combination of fantasy, cruelty (which good fairy tale isn't cruel?) and off the wall humour a lot.

[peter johnson]

There's always going to be trouble with Gaiman on film -- He is a highly literate writer, and wordplay such as his doesn't always lend itself to action --
That being said, I genuinely love "Mirrormask", which he wrote directly for the screen, as opposed to adapting his own novel as a screenplay second, which is what happened with "Stardust".
Gaiman admires Monty Python, Spike Milligan, Douglas Adams, Peter Cook, and others of the literate British school of comedy.  Either this sort of thing appeals to you, or it doesn't.  He will always have elements of silly silly humour in his work, as this amuses himself.
* * *
Yes, I did see "Across the Universe".  Pretty darn good.  Eddie Izzard easily the best thing in it.
* * *
Speaking as a Gaiman fan, I still think the best thing he's done has been the 10-volume "Sandman" comic-book series. He covers some of the same ground in "Neverwhere" and "American Gods", but "Sandman" just nails it.  I just finished reading "Anansi Boys" and while there were passages that thrilled me like a Bradbury short-story, it didn't change my opinion that "Sandman" is his best work.  Also, seek out if you can the limited edition comic series "1602", which is very strange indeed.
peter johnson/denny crane

[Torgo]

I thought that the movie was a lot of fun even if the book was better (which is usually almost always the case).  Michelle Pfeiffer in particular was deliciously good in it.

[Zapranoth]

There are elements to the book that simply cannot, cannot be pulled off the same in a movie, ie, Yvaine's fall.

If you haven't read it, when the star falls, you just get a 3rd person omniscient telling of it -- a flash of light, a thud in the bushes (not a fiery crater, just an impact) and then:  'And there was a voice, a high clear , female voice, which said, "Ow," and then, very quietly, it said, "F***," and then it said "Ow," once more.

(Except that the f-word is in a very tiny point size on the page.)

I can't quite explain how weirdly funny this comes across, in the book, which up until this point reads with a deliberate quaintness that makes this crass introduction all the more jarring and humorous.

[WingedSerpent]

The main audience for Fantasy and Science Fiction is children. If kids aren't interested in it, it won't sell. There just aren't enough adult Fantasy and Sci-fi fans to carry  a movie.

With that being said, I would say that kids don't nessessarily need silly corny gags to like a Fantasy movie. But the movie does have to be fun, and the plot has to move quickly.

Makes me wonder why LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia seem to be doing well.  The two big ones that the others are imitating are the exceptions, not the rules. Eragon, The Golden Compass, and others don't live up to those two standards.