Being a fantasy fan, I loved the movie from beginning to end. It also has the elements I'm looking for in a movie. If you're looking for a good story, sword fights, romance, treachery, comedy, revenge, and fantasy; you'll definitely find it in the film. Fortunately, Neil Gaiman's humor was not absent in it.

The story flow was superb. It kept me from sleep during the film. I like to compare it to a vise; it grips you tighter and tighter and will only loosen when the film is done. I also like to add, that, Stardust is reminiscent of the Rob Reiner film, “The Princess Bride”, which is as far as I know also based on a book.

“Stardust” only proves that a director can practice his/her artistic license without gaining the disapproval of some other artist's fans by destroying the latter's work. “Stardust” will definitely be a classic film.

The film has a confused feel to it, it doesn't know whether it's an X-rated late night art film or a family-friendly sword-and-sorcery epic, and ends up being an unfortunate mixture of the two. The innovative motion-capture CGI work acts as a thin veneer to cover a combination of gore (arms are ripped off, eyes are pierced, and people are literally torn limb from limb in graphic detail) and sexual metaphor (the obvious example being Grendel's Mother's seduction of Beowulf, while stroking his sword until the sword actually melts!) entirely unsuitable for a 12a rating, and gives the film an odd twist as for the first half hour I found myself thinking “gosh Antony Hopkins has put on weight” despite knowing that that isn't really Antony Hopkins. There are points when the computer images don't quite work, some of the female characters look as though they are made of plastic, while John Malkovitch's character has strangely dead eyes.

The plot, apparently adapted from scholarly debate, is just too weird for the mainstream audience it's trying to reach, while the action sequences are a hit-and-miss affair, some are effective, such as the fight between Beowulf and the sea monsters, and some are not, such as the fight with Grendel, which is perplexedly carried out while our hero is naked, for no real reason at all. As for casting, Ray Winston, although a good actor, is not really suitable for playing a Scandinavian warrior, unless Scandinavian warriors had cockney accents! Most of the other roles are interestingly and effectively cast, even Angelina Jolie, who seemed a strange choice to play the powerful, demonic Grendel's Mother but is surprisingly good, despite the gold paint.

It's a shame the film seems so uncertain of itself, because there are some sequences which are deliciously inventive and evocative. The mead hall sequences, so vividly evoked in the poem, come to life wonderfully; atmospherically suggests the sights, sounds and smells of the banquet. The dialogue between Grendel and his Mother is also beautifully rendered, spoken in some strange invented dialect and seen from the Mother's point of view, offering only glimpses of her in her true form, as she seems to be some sort of shape-shifter in this portrayal. Grendel himself is perfectly portrayed by Crispin Glover, a powerful, childlike performance coupled with a suitably gross character design, Grendel proves a very sympathetic monster.

I am unsure as to whether the attempts to reach a wider, more mainstream audience are due to the studio or the writers, but it's a decision which effectively ruined the film.

The story begins in Victorian England in the village of “Wall” so called because it shares a bordering wall with the magical land of “Stormhold.” Although it is forbidden to go beyond the wall, young Tristan (Cox) defies the rules of his community to go in search of a fallen star, which he promises to retrieve for the woman he loves (Miller). Little does Tristan know that there are other predatory characters after the star, which takes the form of a young woman called Yvaine (Danes). Needless to say Yvaine does not appreciate Tristan's designs to take her back as a trophy to his would-be girlfriend and causes as much trouble as possible for him until she meets a much deadlier foe: Michelle Pfieffer in some truly terrifying make-up.

Pfieffer is chilling as the evil witch hell bent on eating Yvaines heart which will bestow the gifts of youth and beauty, and fans of the Godfather and Taxi Driver will get to see a whole other side to De Niro. All this certainly contributes to the fun factor, but Danes without doubt out-shines everyone else around her putting in one of her most sensitive performances to-date. She is highly watchable and demonstrates a beautiful capacity for on-screen vulnerability and a certain unspoken innocence meaning that the audience has no choice but to warm to the lonely star who is just trying to find her way home to the sky, and accidentally stumbles on true love.

Although the piece is held together by a deliciously dark sub-plot about the fight for the throne of Stormhold, the pacing of this piece could be better. Some segments of the film are slowed and over stressed when brevity would have been a better strategy. The success of the coupling between writer and director depends very much whether or not they function on the same wavelength. It's clear from this piece that Vaughan and Gaiman aren't quite the perfect fit, especially when compared to other pairings such as De Maurier and Hitchcock who together created works of genius.

In short, it is worth watching and has some beautiful and enjoyable moments. Just make sure you take a bag of sweets in with you to get you through the slow moments, as the overall flow of the piece is a little bit disjointed.