I got some Stardust in my eye!

Stardust the film is a little different to that of the original story by Neil Gaiman. But not in a bad way.

The movie is not as dark - presented more as a children's fairytale as opposed to what really was an adult novella.

I really enjoyed it.

It is the story of a young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) who lives in Wall - so named for the wall that separates the village from what appears to just be woods and a field, but is actually Faerie. The wall is guarded by a 90-odd year old sentry who prevents people from trying to pass to the other side.

Tristan is trying to win the heart of Victoria (Sienna Miller), and one night as they are looking up at the sky, they see a falling star. Tristan promises Victoria that she will have this star by her birthday in one week. Thus begins his adventure.

The falling star is Yvaine (Claire Danes). Soon they are being perused by a witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) who wants Yvaine's heart for her and her sisters - so they can be returned to their original beauty.

Meanwhile, the King of Stormhold (the kingdom in which the bulk of the story takes place) has died and his three remaining sons (there were four but one of them - played amusingly by Rupert Everett - has met with an unfortunate "accident") vie for the throne. The last living male heir will become king. This story becomes entwined with that of Tristan, Yvaine and the witches.

There are a couple of cameos (Ricky Gervais, Peter O'Toole) but I think the best character is that of Captain Shakespeare, a pirate played by Robert De Niro. For some reason, the two elderly ladies who sat in front of me and I were the only ones who were laughing when his character was, well, behaving like his character (I really can't tell you more than that - it would spoil it for you). It's narrated by Ian McKellen too, so that's an added bonus!

There's a lot more to the story than what I've outlined here, but you get the general idea from what I've written.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Nice fairytale, typical fairytale ending, but quite enjoyable. Not something you would need to see at the cinema, but if you're looking for something to see on tight-arse Tuesday, you wouldn't really go wrong with this one.