“A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really...”Do the stars gaze back?" Now that's a question.”

And with those opening lines we are immediately enchanted by the world of “Stardust”. And enchanting is exactly what we all would wish that a fantasy movie would do for us every time we go to see one,

Now, I already had high hopes for this movie because there were names in it like: Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Peter O’Toole, and Ian McKellan. But what I didn’t realize was how little these people had to do with this movie. Don’t get me wrong, the parts they played were very important, and the storyline would have limped horribly without them (especially DeNiro – who somehow managed to pull off quite convincingly the part of a cross-dressing pirate that was just as happy trying on lipstick as he was slitting the throats of his enemies – truly bizarre)

But the stars of this movie are the unassuming youngsters that make up the love triangle (square?) that runs the entire plot. I realize you are probably thinking “this has been done before, and before, and before.” Except I doubt that in most of the love stories you’ve watched before has the young woman being wooed actually been a star fallen from the sky. And to make her plight worse – not only is there a young man trying to catch her to take her back to the first young lady he is in love with, but there are also 3 witches who wish to cut out her heart and eat it. Because, apparently eating star’s hearts keeps one young and beautiful. (I see a big run on Hollywood surgical centers – and me in jail for suggesting this.)

But if this all weren’t bad enough – the King of this magical kingdom has just died, and left no heir-but 3 squabbling brothers (there were 7, but four of them have already been killed off by their siblings.) This is a blood thirsty bunch we have here.

So across one side of the kingdom race 3 brothers for the King’s necklace, and across the other side races a witch and a very nice boy for a fallen star.

Need I say that all these racing entities run into each other? Oh, yeah – there was that cross-dressing pirate, too.

I refuse to divulge anymore of the movie. I will however say it is one of the most refreshing films I have seen in many years. My entire family watched it – me, my husband, my 17 year old son, my 11 year old daughter, and my 6 yr old son – and we all loved it. We pull it out when there is nothing on TV and we want something fun to watch.

It is rated PG-13 for a little bit of fighting violence, mostly swordplay and a little risqué humor which will go mostly over the kids’ heads – (unless you have bright kids.)

Definitely add this one into your family DVD cabinet.