Topic: Stardust

[Quemaqua]

So... I don't know what to make of this.  I listened to Neil Gaiman read the audiobook which was just fucking amazing.  If you ever get the chance, listen to it.  He reads brilliantly.

Anyway, I'm watching the movie right now (only about 20 minutes in), and I sincerely hope it gets better.  The initial setup is just woeful compared to the book, and they didn't stick very close to the original material at all.  This has a lot more comedic overtones (which isn't so bad... in fact, it's probably for the best, otherwise I think this thing would fall flat on its ass as an attempt at a decent fairytale).  The overall tone of the visuals and stuff seems about right, and it seems like it could be a nice movie... but I think I really loved the original stuff way too much for this to do anything of substance for me.  I thought the original was all but perfect, and the way I built it in my own mind just makes the movie seem lackluster.  I'm very glad I didn't see this before reading it.  It would have tainted the real thing too much.

Anyone else see it?  Anyone else read it, or get the original DC picture book?  I now have the audiobook, the novel, and the DC release.  I don't think I'll be adding the movie to my collection.  This almost seems like a waste of a good movie, as it doesn't seem terrible, it's just terrible in comparison with the original material.

[JacksRag(e)]

It does get off to a bit of a slow start and I warn everyone I recommend it to about that as well.  But once you get past the falling star scene it begins to pick up.  And it becomes a rather good fantasy/adventure film.  It really does.

[Ghandi]

I thought it was a fun movie - It's a good date movie. It did start off a bit slow, as Jack points out, but I found it picked up after that rather nicely. Granted, I didn't read the book, but I liked the movie overall.

[Quemaqua]

It's really not a bad movie.  It's about over now.  It's entertaining, and cute, and funny... it just isn't anywhere near as good as the book, which is more of all that (though not quite as funny), a better story in general, and a lot more memorable.  It's too bad the two don't compliment each other a little better instead of seeming at odds.  I think even with the greater focus on comedy the movie would have been a winner had it simply stuck to the script and tried a little harder to (ironically) be a little more magical.

Seriously, try the audiobook.  You won't regret it.

[Ghandi]

You sound surprised. The book is always better than the movie. What did you expect?

[Quemaqua]

Just because the book is better doesn't mean the movie has to be so drastically different.  The end of this movie is just atrocious.  Some differences are understandable, but others just make no sense.  The differences the LotR movies made from the books were *almost* completely justifiable, whereas the ones they made here seem entirely arbitrary, and in a lot of cases aren't nearly as good as what they'd have been if they just left it alone, even just conceptually and leaving execution completely out of it.

So yeah, I just don't quite get it.

[Xessive]

I really enjoyed it. I got caught in the fairytale! Mind you, I have not read the book.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I loved the movie, yeah I liked the book more, but the movie did a pretty good job of portraying the book, except for a couple of minor things.  I still need to pick up that DC graphic novel of it though along with the graphic novel version of Neverwhere.

Speaking of Neil Gaiman books being turned into movies, Coraline is supposedly wrapping up in production and should be coming out later this year, hopefully its good.

[Quemaqua]

If it's anything like Stardust, it won't be.  I disagree that it portrayed the book well.  It barely portrayed it at all.  Gay crossdressing sky pirate?  What the fuck was that?  Sure, it was funny, but if you felt any affection for that part of the book, you basically just got to watch it get murdered and sodomized.  They tried way too hard to make it overly dramatic, which it totally didn't need, and they changed the personalities of a number of characters entirely.  The most integral part of the core story was there, sure, but everything else was different and mostly kind of stupid in comparison.  I still don't think it was a bad movie if taken alone, it just wasn't anything like the book at all.  Julia hated it like... a lot more than me.  She wouldn't stop talking about how much she hated it for a good 2 hours after we finished watching, heh.  She loved the book to death too, so I guess that's why.  But she wouldn't even acknowledge that the movie had anything good in it at all (other than the dead brothers as comic relief... I think we both liked that... and we both agreed that most of the actors were quite good, even if their parts weren't).

[Xessive]

I need to read this book!

[gpw11]

I liked the movie personally...for what it was.