Living.Scotsman.com – Alistair Harkness
At a time when every fantasy film aimed at children comes burdened with darkness, misery and unnecessary political subtexts (stand up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), there’s something joyous about the way Stardust – an elaborate new fairytale film filled with quests, swordfights, witches, scheming princes and sky pirates – seems to be on a mission to be frivolous and light on its feet.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn (better known for Brit gangland thriller Layer Cake and his work as Guy Ritchie’s producer) and based on an illustrated novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, there’s no deep meaning to be gleaned from its story and nothing to get in the way of the rollicking adventure movie it wants to be. Instead it is a deliberate attempt to inject some of The Princess Bride’s tongue-in-cheek humour back into the genre. If it doesn’t quite succeed in scaling that film’s verbose, witty heights, it does have some of the scrappy charm of early Terry Gilliam films such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Time Bandits.