Perspective: A Book To Movie Adaptation of Stardust

Perspective: 
A Book To Movie Adaptation Review of 

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Movie directed by Matthew Vaughn

                                            

“There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart’s Desire.” 
― Neil Gaiman, Stardust

For my first book to movie adaptation review, I figured that I would do my favorite adaptation of all time first. I was first introduced to Stardust in tenth grade with the movie and I had no clue at the time that there even was a novel. Actually, I found out about the novel three years later at a bookstore. That's when I saw the book with the movie cover and I just had to have it because I adored the movie. What I found out was that the book and the movie are quite different, but I love each in their differences. Stardust is my favorite movie of all time. I just adore it and always have. The novel is also one of my favorites from fantasy. So it was interesting going into this time of reading the novel and watching the movie knowing that I was planning on comparing them.

This may have some spoilers to the plot of both the book and the movie.  So if you don't want to know anything going into either, I would recommend checking them out first. 

The Plot
We follow along Tristran (Tristan in the movie) as he tries to win the hand of Victoria, who he believes he is in love with. In a failed attempt at wooing her with overexaggerated promises, he makes a deal that he will go and fetch a fallen star for her. Little does he know that this oath to her will lead him on a daring and dangerous adventure in a world very unlike the quaint town of Wall. He will come across a witch that wants the heart of the star for herself, a few princes that need the stone that the star is carrying, pirates, and the star herself.

The stars of Stardust

Charlie Cox as Tristan and Claire Danes as Yvaine


Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare


Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia the witch

Mark Strong as Prince Septimus


And so many more

Similarities

The World:

   -They did a great job making this world feel just as large as it does in the book. You can tell that there is much more that we are not even seeing in both. I have always hoped that there would be some sort of sequel and I believe I always will. I'd love to see more of the world of Faerie. 

The Three Subplots:

  -The movie basically hits every major plot point. I will mention any major changes below, but really there's not much within the overall plot that changes. They have stayed very loyal to Neil's overall story and I can see why he thinks so highly of it. Also, that's probably because it's a phenomenal movie. 

  -The editing between the three subplots is also incredible. They made each of the parts (Tristan and Yvaine's, the witch Lamia, and the princes) meld seamlessly together. 

Differences

The Beginning: 

   - In the novel, there is a good portion of time focused on Dunstan and also the town of Wall in general. We spend two whole chapters at around 20% of the book in the town of Wall before Tristran actually goes to get the star. In the movie, there are a few minutes dedicated to Dunstan but the major focus of the story is on Tristan and his adventure with Yvaine. I really liked this change because the heart of the story is in the relationship and we get to see much more of the growth in the movie. 

   - In the novel, Tristan's real name is actually Tristran. This is a change that makes sense in the case of the movie because it is a lot easier to pronounce Tristan. 

   - We learn a lot of about Tristran's life in the town in the novel. This includes his schooling. 

   - Dunstan actually gets married to a woman in the town of Wall after his romantic night with Tristran's mother. He also is very distraught about not being able to be with her. His parents get him to marry this woman Daisy. Then Tristran gets dropped off at their doorstep. He also has a daughter with Daisy. In the movie, he seems to just have Tristan and we see him have a very different ending. 

   - In the movie, the men in the town of Wall actually all act as guards for the wall instead of just having one. Also, they let people go through the wall once every nine years when the market comes. People are able to go through the wall if they seem to have a reason for it.  In the movie, we get an older guard who has had the job for years. He never lets anyone through the wall. This adds to the humor in the movie and the mystery of what is over that wall that he is trying to protect everyone from. 

Really, I think that the movie really benefits from spending a lot less time in the town of Wall and getting to the plot with Tristan and Yvaine. It makes the focus on their growing relationship and friendship. They are really the heart of this story and it's great that we get to spend a good amount of time with them. This is not saying that I do not like the novel because I adore it. There are just aspects that work so much better in a larger written work than would in a two-hour movie. 

Tristan Thorn:

   - In the movie, I felt that they picked the perfect person to play the part of Tristan. Charlie Cox plays both sides of the character perfectly. You can really feel the geeky, lovestruck side of him from the beginning but also the heroic side from the end. The change is so subtle in this and it feels so genuine. We really get to know Tristan and feel for him in the movie. In the novel, I'll admit, that I really did not like Tristran for a good portion of it. In the movie, he's just so likable the entire time. We want him to succeed even if we know that he's trying to get the wrong person to fall in love with him. His intentions are so pure and we just hope that he will figure out the truth the whole time. 

Captain Shakespeare:

  -A good amount of the plot of the movie focuses on the growth of the character of Tristan. This is the story of how he becomes a man as the narrator states at the beginning. A lot of this growth for Tristan happens on Captain Shakespeare's ship. He learns from Shakespeare how to fence, he gains confidence in himself, and both Yvaine and he grow closer. Captain Shakespeare and his crew are not complete additions to the plot but they are definitely different than their book counterparts. 

The Ending: 

  -In the book, the ending feels very much like a fairytale ending. It's got the right amount of a happy ending for the main characters, the villain gets what's coming to them, and it is very bittersweet. But the movie instead has an action-packed happy ending. I'm not going to go into details because I don't want to spoil the end but the overarching plots play out very differently in each. 

Little Changes: 

There are a bunch of little changes that were made between the two. I will mention the ones that stick out the most.

   -King (movie)/ Lord (book): throws the necklace out the window in the book. In the last showing of his overall power, he has his sons bring him over to the window and chucks the necklace into the air. It eventually hits the star as we see in the movie. But in the movie, we instead see the amulet fly out of his hand and out the window. This change makes a lot of sense because in the movie they would have had to add effects to get the ruby to fly into the sky. It would have been fun to see Peter O' Toole throw it though.

- The ghosts are in much more of the movie and are played up a lot more for humor. I felt that this worked perfectly for the movie. They were funniest parts of the movie. It was also interesting to see how the "interacted" with the live characters. 

  -There are also some great deleted scenes with them. 

- The only real change in the movie that I wish they wouldn't have changed was the mirror in the witches' home. In the novel, the mirror seems to be either reflecting what the witches used to look like or their ancestors. It would have been really cool to see this but I can see why they changed it. 

Overall Thoughts

In most book to movie adaptations, I can usually pick one out of the two that I like better, either the book or the movie. These both are great in their own way. I love the humor and the action/adventure aspects of the movie, but I also love the prose and the storytelling aspects of the novel. Each tells the same story but in two different ways that fit well. My favorite out of these two would be the movie but not by much. This is my favorite movie of all time so obviously, it would win in this case. It, I believe was perfectly made and one of the best adaptations I have ever seen. Sure, there are changes but they make me love this story more. Also, the actors bring so much to each of their characters. I can't get enough of this movie. I cannot recommend both enough. You should check them out for yourself if you never did or enjoy them again if you have.