Laremy Legel,
Aug 10, 2007
Cargill and Laremy just took in Stardust and they came out of it with very different opinions of the Neil Gaiman adaptation. Who is right? Who is wrong? Hint: As Laremy edits the movies page he is most likely correct which means that Stardust is in fact great. Sorry Cargill. I'm also slightly worried that I'm now speaking of myself in the third person. Ah well, let's see how the argument broke down anyway!
Did you like this movie?
Cargill:
Not at all. I was really put off by this film's lack of a coherent world. When I watch a fantasy film, I want to be transported to another world with specific rules and a whole different way of looking at things. Stardust is a collection of every cliche you know about fantasy: witches, unicorns, ghosts, princes. And not a single bit of it gels or makes sense when compared to any other part of it. It's just there. At the same time it plays for laughs, but never reaches the level of comedy that it should.
Laremy:
I liked it quite a bit! It has a little something of every genre in there - romantic comedy, fantasy, action, sci-fi, you name it. It's entertaining throughout because you never know exactly how they are going to play it, unlike with most of the films this summer. It's a hard movie to get into for the first 30 minutes but somewhere along the way you realize, "hey, this is actually pretty good." There needs to be more room in Hollywood for films that don't conform to the lowest common denominator.
What film does Stardust most resemble?
Cargill:
If I hear one more person compare this to The Princess Bride (because it is the only other comedy fantasy they can think of) I am going to go to a brick factory, steal a truck and drive around town chucking bricks at the back of the heads of anyone who so much as sneezes a sneeze that sounds like they said it. If I were to compare it to a fantasy comedy, I'd put it more in line with the Ringo Star/Dennis Quaid "masterpiece" Caveman.
Laremy:
The only comparison people feel comfortable making is The Princess Bride, but I don't think that's very fair. That movie, like this one, defies genre and so just lumping them together isn't really that accurate. It's probably a little closer to Labyrinth if I had to pick.
What do you think of the marketing of Stardust thus far?
Cargill:
I think the trailer does an effective job of showing just how miserable a mishmash this film is.
Laremy:
It's been horrible, and I know exactly why. How do you convince someone to see something entirely new to them? People like comfort with their previews. If they don't know what the movie is about they dismiss it. That's the case here, though I've been telling everyone I know that it's great. And now I'm telling you!
Were you a Neil Gaiman fan coming into this?
Cargill:
Yes, although I haven't read the novel on which this is based.
Laremy:
I've never really read him, but based on this I might start. This is a very nuanced tale that really does deserve some love.
How will the film perform at the box office?
Cargill:
Well, it is going to get its hindquarter handed to it as people flock to Rush Hour 3 and families make their way to Daddy Day Camp. It probably won't bomb, but I can't imagine a universe in which it takes this weekend. Maybe in the Stardust universe. Nothing seems to make sense there to begin with.
Laremy:
It will get brutalized. The marketing, the innovation factor, all of these are working against them in a summer of known quantities. Rush Hour 3 (which is about as average as you'd expect) will wipe the floor with this one. The only hope is the DVD and a cultish following along the lines of... sigh... The Princess Bride.
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