Stardust - Review

In Stardust a young man named Tristran must save a woman who is actually a fallen star from an evil witch in a goat powered cart. Along the way he gets help from unicorns, gay pirates, and oh yeah he may just be a long lost prince. Even for a fantasy movie, Stardust is made of pretty silly stuff. In a way it’s a throwback to what fantasy movies were before Peter Jackson, reminiscent of now rather dated work like Willow, Legend, or The Dark Crystal. But inspired directing from Matthew Vaughn and a wry sense of humor saves the movie’s oh-so-80s story from being an out of time curiosity and makes it a completely unique fantasy film unlike any of the other witches and wizards fare flooding theaters.

Matthew Vaughn by the way, was the guy who infamously wrote an X-Men 3 script in seven days and was slated to direct the third mutant film before being replaced by playboy director Brett Ratner. If only Fox had kept him, X-Men 3 might not have been such a disaster. Unlike Ratner, Vaughn has talent and style to spare and it’s all on display in Stardust. He never settles for doing things the easy way, and the movie is filled with glowing, gorgeous wide shots and massive, world-spanning pans in which his camera zooms from a tiny village across thousands of miles, through a castle and into a keyhole. Vaughn’s take on the universe first created by Neil Gaiman in book form is absolutely breathtaking.

His cast is stacked with big names. The movie’s lead is the only face in it you won’t recognize. Charlie Cox plays Tristran, a shop boy from our world who crosses a magical wall and finds himself ensnared in a world of magic and intrigue. He’s instantly likable, if a little dopey, and plays the part of an adventurous romantic out to win the heart of the woman he loves admirably. Claire Danes plays one of the film’s female leads, a fallen star named Yvaine, and she works as a sassy, ethereal beauty. But Robert DeNiro as an air pirate is just bizarre. The character is funny and likable, but only because he’s written that way not because of anything DeNiro is doing. DeNiro, seems rather lost, as if he’s standing on set in front of a green screen unable to figure out which way he’s supposed to be facing. Sienna Miller is a waste of space as Tristran’s lady love Victoria, but thankfully she’s barely in the film. Michelle Pfeiffer seems to be having a blast as the rapidly aging head witch who harries Tristran on his trip.

Somewhat confusing is Ian McKellan serving as the movie’s narrator. Don’t get me wrong, McKellan’s great. There is no better narrator than Ian McKellan, not even Morgan Freeman. But why does the movie have an omniscient narrator at all? It does give the film a nice dreamlike, storybook quality; but it’s almost as if Vaughn felt Gaiman’s story too bizarre to be understood by audiences without someone there to offer explanations. Actually, he may have been right.

Stardust is really weird, but knows it and seems to have no problem poking fun at itself and the fantasy genre for just how strange it all is. That wickedly sarcastic sense of fun, more than anything, is what makes Stardust such an entertaining success. It’s unlikely to become the next big fantasy franchise, but it’s a great way to spend a Friday night. Gaiman’s world looks good on screen, and it’s impossible not to enjoy spending time with it.

Hairspray - Review

Hairspray is a lively and enjoyable adaptation (or as director Adam Shankman calls it, a "re-invention") of the Tony-winning Broadway musical, itself a singing-dancing remake of the 1988 John Waters film. While the source material has always seemed like a bit of a curio, its themes of inclusion, equality, and embracing the new and different provide a strong jumping-off point here. The mega-success of the stage production made a big-screen version inevitable and, despite a plot that still teeters from marginal to meaningful, this latest incarnation has much to recommend.

Set in 1962 Baltimore, Hairspray tells the fable-icious story of Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a chubby, ebullient, exceedingly confident teen who's got the music in her—as well as the dance moves. When she finally lands the chance to shake it up on the local American Bandstand-like "Corny Collins Show," big-little Tracy becomes a hometown sensation. She also gives the show's main dancer Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow) some stiff competition, especially when Amber's dreamy boyfriend Linc Larkin (High School Musical's Zac Efron) begins to have eyes for the plucky, dance crazy Ms. Turnblad.

Tracy's laundress mother, the bashful and obese Edna (John Travolta, in a role always played by men) and her dad Wilbur (Christopher Walken), a sweet, joke-shop proprietor, quickly adjust to their daughter's newfound fame, as does Tracy's best pal, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes). Only Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), the gloriously evil manager of the station that airs the show, is irked by the Tracy factor, and tries her best to get Tracy out of the picture—and insure daughter Amber's coveted place as Miss Teenage Hairspray.

But when the bigoted Velma decides to cancel the dance show's monthly "Negro Day" (segregation's still going on), which is hosted by record shop owner Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah) and features Maybelle's smooth, hot-hoofing son Seaweed (Elijah Kelly), Tracy helps lead a protest march against the station, gets arrested, and becomes something of a fugitive. It's here the movie (as did the original) loses steam, till the infectious final number "You Can't Stop the Beat" reunites the whole cast for a wonderfully rollicking, smile-inducing finale.

Shankman (Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier), who directed from a script adapted by Leslie Dixon, keeps the energy bubbling throughout, filling the screen with vibrant colors, constant movement, and a great deal of joy. He choreographed as well, and, despite moments when it feels like there's simply not enough room on the screen to contain it all, the dance numbers are uniformly terrific. All the leads get their moment in the singing spotlight, with Blonsky's upbeat opener "Good Morning Baltimore" and love paean "I Can Hear the Bells," Kelley and Taylor Parks' (who plays his kid sister Inez) "Run and Tell That," and Queen Latifah's moving "I Know Where I've Been" among the other standouts penned by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Kudos also go to costume designer Rita Ryack for her diverse, eye-popping array of '60s clothes and to production designer David Gropman for recreating the look of the era with more smarts and less kitsch than one might expect. Hair designer Judi Cooper-Sealy also had her work cut out for her, and she delivers tenfold.

The large cast, also including James Marsden as glib TV host Corny Collins, Allison Janney as Penny's bible-toting mother, and Jerry Stiller (who played Wilbur Turnblad in the first film) as big-gal dress shop owner Mr. Pinky, gives their all, with a special shout out to Pfeiffer, a hilarious Bynes, and vivacious newcomer Blonsky. John Waters and the original Tracy, Ricki Lake, also pop up in amusing cameos.

As for Travolta, he's game and quite funny in the wacky part, but aside from looking pretty odd (even for a middle-aged man in fat lady drag); he doesn't always cut loose enough to make the character his own. And why is he the only one to attempt a Baltimore accent? Let's just say, his Edna Turnblad is a far cry from the career-making studs he played in Saturday Night Fever and Grease. But that's show biz.