Stardust (PG)

Starring: Charlie Cox, Ian McKellan, Sienna Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, Jason Flemyng, Peter O'Toole, Ricky Gervais, Rupert Everett, Mark Strong.

Stardust is a magical family film set in the 1800's (ish) in a place called "Wall", where our "hero" Tristan longs to be with his true love. One night under a canopy of stars, he is sat with his "Victoria" and together they spot a shooting star fall to Earth. Foolishly he has promised anything to his love, with the "prize" being marriage, and yes you guessed it, he has to get the fallen star and bring it back. The only problem is that the star has fallen on the other side of the wall, Stormhold, a fantasy magical land. Rather handily there is a hole in the wall, guarded by one solitary figure which doesn't prov to hard to get around, but the 3 witches, pirates and conspiring Princes prove otherwise.

Stardust has been out for a while, but if you did miss it first time round, it has been out on DVD for a little while so you can nab it for a reasonable price. It had something of a mixed response amongst potential audiences, but once they had seen it, reviews were far more positive! It is quite simply a great family film, with a refreshing story, great cast (De Niro's Pirate is absolute genius), all pulled together neatly. It has to be said that there is quite a bit of humour woven into the film too, but it never goes over the top, so you don't feel like you're watching a third rate "Princess Bride". Even the soundtrack does the film proud.

Simply put it's one of the best films in the fantasy genre to have come out in recent years, certainly better then the Golden Compass, fully deserving of it's 4 star review rating from the Sunday Times on it's initial release, and if you haven't seen it, you're missing out!

By Joe