Last weekend, Emily and I saw the movie Stardust. She was not convinced that she would like it since fantasy movies are more my thing, but I convinced her to go anyway.I have been really excited about this movie ever since I saw the trailer a few months ago and I have to say it did not disappoint. It is really a coming of age story which features the adventures of Tristan, a normal young man who is trying to secure the love a beautiful but non-interested young lady name Victoria.
Tristan and the young lady are having a light night chat when they see as falling star fly over. Tristan promises to retrieve this star for the woman in order to secure her love, and thus sets off on his journey.
When he arrives at the site where the star lands, he finds that the star is in fact a young lady who has been knocked from the heavens. She is magical, and everyone wants to capture her for their own use. Tristan wants to take her so he can win the heart of his beautiful crush, some witches want to eat her heart so they can have eternal youth, 4 sons of a king want to capture her in order to secure their ascent to Kingship, and the whole kingdom is full of others who would happily profit from selling her to any of these purposes.
What is fasinating to me, is that Tristan is ignorant but noble. He is blind to the wrongness of his taking the star for his own purposes, but genuinely does not mean to harm her. He simple feels he needs her to fulfill his pledge to Victoria. As the movie progresses he is awakened to his foolishness and becomes the Star's protector. It is an awesome journey to watch him go from a selfish wide eyed youth to a selfless, noble and sacrificial hero.
This theme is significant to me because of my Christian Faith. While the movie does not claim any Christian ties, the idea of coming of age and taking responsibility for ones actions is a huge part of the faith journey. Most people enter life very self centered and ignorant of the needs and desires of others around them. Often we are tempted to use people for what we can gain from them without considering what is best for them. It is indeed a mature day when we discover this self centered existence is the opposite of how Jesus is presented in the Bible as a "Humble" God. As a Christian I am called to consider others needs more important than my own, but all too often I see others as a way of meeting my needs. On this level this movie was very moving and convicting. It made me think about who in my life I was trying to manipulate rather than love and serve.
This is only a few of the things I liked about the move (Robert Deniro is brilliant!). If you liked the Princess Bride I am fairly confident you will like this movie as well.
My Take: It was a magical experience and I loved it.
