I was trying to find a great romance yesterday and just couldn’t, and then I put on Stardust and it’s filled to bursting with romance and ticked all the boxes. It was so great! The film is based on the book by Neil Gaiman and follows Tristan Thorn, a young man from the town of Wall, who goes on a hunt to bring a fallen star back to Wall for his beloved Victoria.

In the story, Wall is a small town in England that borders Stormhold, a magical kingdom on the side of Wall’s wall (it’s not a very big wall, either). Before the central events of the film, a young man, played by the fantastic Ben Barnes, crosses from England into Stormhold and ends up fathering a child with a woman he meets at a market filled with magical creatures.

Eighteen years later, in Stormhold, the remaining sons of the king are battling each other for the crown. The ghosts of the brothers already passed watch over them, cheering the remaining brothers on. The king, as his dying act, sends his necklace with the power to rule Stormhold up into the atmosphere. The necklace hits a star, which falls to the ground.

Back in England, the child from the beginning is now a grown man named Tristan. Tristan is madly in love with the town beauty, Victoria, and is trying desperately to win her heart. When he and Victoria witness the star falling, Tristan promises to bring the star to Victoria as an engagement token. Quite problematically, when Tristan finds the fallen star, he learns that the star is now in the form of a woman. Tristan resolves to bring the star, Yvaine, back to Wall for Victoria. Yvaine is dragged along, the necklace the brothers want around her neck. Also at the same time, three sister witches are plotting to steal Yvaine’s heart, because if you eat the heart of a star, you live on, young and powerful. The heart of the last star they killed years before is almost gone.

As the witches and the princes follow Tristan and Yvaine, they find themselves coming across an unexpected group of pirates and their charming captain. Along the way, Tristan’s feelings for Yvaine grow and he starts to change his mind about Victoria and the scope of the mission he’s on.

I loved this film, honestly. It’s just so charming. The whole cast is great – Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Henry Cavill, Ben Barnes and more. Honestly so fantastic! I loved Tristan and Yvaine so much, but every character was engaging and wonderfully portrayed. Definitely a film I’ll be rewatching!