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mayoraasei(Just as an aside, I know I haven't been posting much about G-00, but it continues to be enjoyable!)
Today I went to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
a_cryptic's house and watched (an illegal copy of) Stardust together.
I think the book is better.
...And this is from someone who hasn't read the book. LOL.
I really enjoyed Good Omens, but I wasn't too fond of Anansi Boys. I think I'm just more into Pratchett's brand of sardonic humour. Gaiman's lovely, and maybe that's the problem. It's not so much satire as just gentle humour.
If he lived in Japan, he'd be a closet shoujo manga artist. While I'm sure a lot of the fun of the original book was lost simply due to the limitations of the film medium, the movie plays more like a comic book adaptation than a book's. Perhaps it's the impeccable sense of comical timing?
So okay, Stardust is about a man-to-be, Tristan, who is smitten with a beautiful girl in his village. He finds out that the girl wants to marry an arrogant man who has gone to Ipswich to buy her a ring, and he promises to better - to retrieve a falling star beyond "the Wall". Beyond "the Wall" is a magical kingdom called Stormhold, whose denizens all want to possess the star, "born" as the lovely maiden Yvaine, for various devious purposes.
Charlie Cox, playing Tristan, has an adorable puppy-dog goofy smile, the sort of earnest wide-eyed boyish confusion and eagerness best associated with the last hapless romantic hero...Will Turner. Oh, and Septimus looks like Snape XD A quick search on IMDB has turned up Tristan's dad (young version) is played by the guy who is going to play Prince Caspian...I'm so dreading Narnia.
One thing I do like about Gaiman's main characters is that they always start awkward and inept. While I wasn't too fond of the guy in Anansi Boys, maybe something about Tristan's eternal wonderment that makes him both likeable and comical. Or perhaps it's Cox's ability to grin like a self-conscious boy even when he's supposed to be cool, and the ability to look daunted even when he's meant to be heroic XD
The plot is plagued by deus ex machina and fairytale/romance cliches, but maybe the little surprises along the way (and maybe the fact I know Gaiman doesn't write for a serious audience) makes it all light-hearted fun.
At least Michelle Pfeiffer is having plenty of delicious fun playing the seductive villainess, and Robert de Niro is totally digging the part of the comical captain with a tough exterior and a closet love for crossdressing. And all the American actors should all be given kudos for braving the British accent XD
Maybe that is another problem. Sometimes it feels like they're having more fun than the audience =( At more than 2 hours, the movie feels like it drags, and while the pace isn't slow, maybe there's just not enough complexity to make it feel worth the time.
It is said that Gaiman called it a "fairytale for adults", and as far as where that niche is concerned, the movie slots in perfectly.
It was good fun though. Several bits made me crack up uncontrollably XD
Today I went to
a_cryptic's house and watched (an illegal copy of) Stardust together. I think the book is better.
...And this is from someone who hasn't read the book. LOL.
I really enjoyed Good Omens, but I wasn't too fond of Anansi Boys. I think I'm just more into Pratchett's brand of sardonic humour. Gaiman's lovely, and maybe that's the problem. It's not so much satire as just gentle humour.
If he lived in Japan, he'd be a closet shoujo manga artist. While I'm sure a lot of the fun of the original book was lost simply due to the limitations of the film medium, the movie plays more like a comic book adaptation than a book's. Perhaps it's the impeccable sense of comical timing?
So okay, Stardust is about a man-to-be, Tristan, who is smitten with a beautiful girl in his village. He finds out that the girl wants to marry an arrogant man who has gone to Ipswich to buy her a ring, and he promises to better - to retrieve a falling star beyond "the Wall". Beyond "the Wall" is a magical kingdom called Stormhold, whose denizens all want to possess the star, "born" as the lovely maiden Yvaine, for various devious purposes.
Charlie Cox, playing Tristan, has an adorable puppy-dog goofy smile, the sort of earnest wide-eyed boyish confusion and eagerness best associated with the last hapless romantic hero...Will Turner. Oh, and Septimus looks like Snape XD A quick search on IMDB has turned up Tristan's dad (young version) is played by the guy who is going to play Prince Caspian...I'm so dreading Narnia.
One thing I do like about Gaiman's main characters is that they always start awkward and inept. While I wasn't too fond of the guy in Anansi Boys, maybe something about Tristan's eternal wonderment that makes him both likeable and comical. Or perhaps it's Cox's ability to grin like a self-conscious boy even when he's supposed to be cool, and the ability to look daunted even when he's meant to be heroic XD
The plot is plagued by deus ex machina and fairytale/romance cliches, but maybe the little surprises along the way (and maybe the fact I know Gaiman doesn't write for a serious audience) makes it all light-hearted fun.
At least Michelle Pfeiffer is having plenty of delicious fun playing the seductive villainess, and Robert de Niro is totally digging the part of the comical captain with a tough exterior and a closet love for crossdressing. And all the American actors should all be given kudos for braving the British accent XD
Maybe that is another problem. Sometimes it feels like they're having more fun than the audience =( At more than 2 hours, the movie feels like it drags, and while the pace isn't slow, maybe there's just not enough complexity to make it feel worth the time.
It is said that Gaiman called it a "fairytale for adults", and as far as where that niche is concerned, the movie slots in perfectly.
It was good fun though. Several bits made me crack up uncontrollably XD
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Date: 2007-11-21 08:25 am (UTC)