"I just thought I'd find some celestial rock, take it home and that would be it."

Why can't we have more movies like Stardust?

Seriously, though. Let's chat about it for a moment. Feel free to disagree, but I expect some solid reasons for your opinion. Here are some of mine:

1) It's slightly satiric. Let's be honest. A quintessential fantasy film is generally trite and asks the viewer to suspend his disbelief beyond the critical elasticity. Unless a fantasy film has an amazing score, wicked actors, or ridiculously awesome special effects, these days it's basically a cheap knock off of LoTR. I think that by being pretty open about just how gay the fantasy genre can be/usually is, the writers avoided this pitfall. I don't find it trite at all.

2) It's based on a book. All good ideas originate as a novels. Enough said.

3)The casting is superb. Michelle Pfeiffer? Excellent. Sexy, horrific, and scary. Who could ask for a better Cross-Dressing Pirate than Robert De Niro (covered later)? Claire Danes is AMAZING as Yvaine. Somehow, she manages to pull off the whole cheesy I'm-a-fallen-star-who-glows-when-I-find-true-love thing, and she ends up looking good. The dude that plays Tristan is pretty decent as well, at least after his hair magically grows...

4) "It's all right Captain. We always knew you were a whoopsie." No movie can be complete without a Gay Pirate. Pure genius and perfectly executed.

5) It's a pretty tame film. For a PG-13 movie, I was actually quite comfortable with my parents and my youngest brother watching it. Especially compared to the movie we'd watched the night before, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

6) The score is intense. This is another soundtrack that I would definitely not mind having. In my opinion, the music of a film can make it or break it. Ilan Eshkeri's music makes the movie.

So, voilà. Six reasons why Stardust is the best movie of 2007. Now go watch it if you haven't and fight me if you have!