We went to find our seats, I was surprised about the small number of people who were watching the film, though this may be due to the inflated price of Premier viewings. The other annoying thing was that everyone had chosen to seat right in the middle of the cinema, so to get to our seats we had to hustle past lots of people with long legs or bags on the floor, lovely!!!

The film starts many moons ago, the film begins in a small called Wall in England, the village is given this name for the long wall which surrounds it. There is, of course, a gap in the wall which is guarded 24 hours a day, the guard claims this gap is a portal to another world, but through some clever trickery a young man does manage to pass through. Once on the other side he finds the magical land of Stormhold, where he meets a lovely young lady who says she is a princess trapped by a wicked witch. But while the witch is away the princess may play.
Nine months after his enchanting trip the guardian of the wall delivers a small basket to the young man, with a baby named Tristan. The narrator tells the viewer that this is the story of how Tristan becomes a man and throughout the story we do see some transformations.
Tristan, now aged eighteen, has a crush of the local beauty, Victoria. Of course, she is not interesting, she has her eye on Humphrey an arrogant, well to do handsome boy. Not one to be put off Tristan pursues Victoria and a week before her birthday takes her out for champagne, they see a shooting star and he says that for her hand in marriage he will cross the wall and bring her back that star. And, off he goes.
Crossing the wall proves to be slightly more difficult than it was in his father's day, the guard gives him a good ass kicking on his first attempt. He does discover that his mother lives on the other side of the wall, his father also gives him a note which contains a magical candle. By using the candle Tristan quickly finds the star and by using an enchanted chain he ties the star to himself so as not lose her.
Meanwhile three witches have also seen the star fall, and apparently it is well known that eating the heart of a star makes you immortal. One of the witches soon sets off on her way to find the star for herself.
At the very same time the current king of Stormhold is on his death bed, he calls together his remaining sons to decide who should be the next king. There were seven brothers but only four remain, their sister has also mysteriously disappeared. The king decides to turn his ruby clear and whoever can restore its colour will be the next king, but he sends it into space and when it hits a star it causes her to fall to Earth or Stormhold, however you look at it. The brothers slowly kill each other until there is only Septimus left, he learns of the star's presence and is also keen to get to her heart and rule for all time.
As you can see this tale really comprises three stories which overlap as everyone is looking for the star and Tristan has the star.

The cast
Charlie Cox ... Tristan Thorn
Ian McKellen ... Narrator (voice)
David Kelly ... Guard
Kate Magowan ... Slave Girl / Una
Sienna Miller ... Victoria
Henry Cavill ... Humphrey
Nathaniel Parker ... Dunstan Thorn
Peter O'Toole ... King
Mark Strong ... Prince Septimus
Jason Flemyng ...Prince Primus
Mark Heap ...Prince Tertius
Rupert Everett ...Prince Secundus
David Walliams ...Prince Sextus
Julian Rhind-Tutt ...Prince Quartus
Adam Buxton ...Prince Quintus
Michelle Pfeiffer ... Lamia
Sarah Alexander ... Empusa, evil witch number two
Joanna Scanlan ... Mormo, evil witch number three
Claire Danes ... Yvaine, the star
Robert De Niro ... Captain Shakespeare
Ricky Gervais ... Ferdy the Fence

Pictures of Stardust (DVD)

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Neil Gaiman wrote the original novel on which this film was based between 1997 and 1998. The story was written in four volumes. These books were adapted for the film in a brilliant screenplay by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Not having read the books myself I cannot really comment on the adaptation from the books. Soon after the books were written Gaiman was in talks with Miramax, but all died down. It was not until 2005 that Paramount Pictures

The main soundtrack of this film is Rule the World by Take That. There are of course other songs used throughout the film, including songs called Snowdrop, Shooting Star and Creating the Inn. I always think that music can either make or break a film and the music in this film is incredible.

The film runs for 130 minutes, which at times seems like a bit too long but for the most part the action of the film makes up for it.