"Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

When I was starting to write my little thing about Stardust I started this long rant about what happens to a book when it adapted into a movie and the possible ideas that can be done to save it. I started writing that because I couldn’t help but love the movie. I am going to go though the two points that I had written and describe how the movie accomplished the things that I found important.

1.       Character Development & Character Integrity

The movie stayed very true to the characters that were outlined in the book. Tristan is a young passionate boy that goes on an adventure to find the fallen star for the women that he loves. As he goes on his adventure he turns more and more into a man and leaves his old ideas and thought process behind. But as life would have it, he is unaware of his growth and the reader can only see this as his thoughts changes, his passion changes, and the final decisions that he makes in the end are not the same decisions that he would have made in the beginning.

The star is a headstrong young woman that initially hates the thought of being near Tristan, and is just learning how to cope with the events on earth. As the story wears on she learns how to cope with her existence on earth better and slowly falls for the young Tristan.

The witch is a power hungry old woman that is seeking the star for to obtain everlasting youth and beauty for her and her sisters. She will do anything to obtain the stars heart.

Although the events that transpire in the book are incredibly different than the events that happen in the movie the characters remain true. We learn their passions and what motivates them. We watch them change (if they do) and deal with the events as changing characters.

2.       Imaginary Freedom

The movie allowed me to keep some of the imaginary freedom because there were many scenes in the book that did not happen (or did not happen the same) in the movie. Large imaginary elements were kept the same. Gaiman’s “travelling by candlelight” was the same as was the glass snowdrop.  The movie also managed to develop characters that were not initially in the book and leave out characters that would be considered to be more fantastical and more appropriate in the imagination and not on screen.

One final thing that I loved about the movie that is a point that I do not discuss is the article I wrote earlier, is the idea that the movie did not take itself too seriously. There were many times that the movie was able to poke fun at itself and offer some levity to the events that were transpiring. I was an intresting element to place, but the final thing that made the movie wonderful and not just good.