Customer Reviews

Stardust: The Visual Companion

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I have been a fan of Stardust Stardust since 1999. Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess created a Faery Tale which I will cherish. And with the coming Movie by Matthew Vaughn, I was pleasantly surprised to pick up the Stardust Visual Companion Stardust: The Visual Companion (Stardust) by Stephen Jones. The production design sketches and notes as well as the production photos are a treasure. Charles Vess also contributes a painting or two. It gives a good idea of the differences of the book and the film as well as Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess opinion on it. The 'Gem' in the visual companion is the inclusion of the working script made by Vaughn and Goldman. I found out that it is not 100% sure that every line of the script will be on the film but it is great to see it... specially the part of Captain Shakespeare and the relationship of him and his crew. This is a must for the Stardust Movie Fan!!!!

Stardust: The Visual Companion is the best "making-of" book I've read in a while. The pictures are wonderful, plentiful, and to my surprise not readily available even when using Google image search. You will also see several concept illustrations and photos of what might have been the wall, the Babylon candle, various set locations, and more. Then, read about your favorite characters and hear creation insights from the costumes they wear to their behavior in the script. It certainly made me appreciate the detail that went into their appearance in Stardust.

I believe just as much love went into making this book as did making the movie itself. It's packed with commentary from Neil Gaiman on his own fairy tale-like experience transforming the world in his head into a shared world on the silver screen. The book includes an abridged script from the movie for the last pages of the book. How cool is that? If you loved Stardust the movie and can't get enough of it, this book will extend your enjoyment enormously.

Finally, this book is *not* a graphic novel with illustrations by Charles Vess (though there are a few of this drawings sprinkled throughout the book. Reviews mistaking this product for something else may be helpful warnings -- but I do not think they should detract from the overall rating of this book.

Length:: 0:34 Mins

If you haven't watched the movie, watch it. It's a very good movie, comically fun and charming.

This book is like the audio commentary that goes with the DVD, except it packs more interesting details. The advantage of a book in this case is, it enjoyed at a more leisurely pace.

Although Amazon stated that this book is hard covered, the copy I have in my hands is actually soft covered. Not much difference really, since it doesn't take away anything.

This is a "Making of" book. The process of creating the movie is well documented. You'll get to read about every minute detail that happens on set, like how much it cost Neil Gaiman to write the story -- A blue Watermans fountain pen, two notebooks and many cups of tea.

There's the evolution of the story from its illustrated form to its movie equivalent. This book has what makes "Making of" books great, it explains the story and everything else related to the story. You'll understand from character casting, scene composition to prop designs that all linked back to the story and add to it in some way.

The book is also rich in comments from Neil Gaiman, the directors and actors. That's like following these people on set while they are filming.

Plenty of high quality movie stills, some concept sketches and paintings are included. At the end of the book, the movie script is included. But note that this is not an art book. The focus of the book is on bringing you behind the camera into the production process.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

The "reimagining" of the Vess/Gaiman "Stardust," to use Neil Gaiman's phrase in the "making of" section of the DVD extras, creates a problem, familiar to book-become-movies: what to include, what to change; here, how to make a book of "faerie" (i.e., dreams) into a nuts-and-bolts film.

This problem becomes acute here; not only are numerous scenes from the book missing or changed, but the "reimagining" shifts emphasis throughout and changes the climactic confrontation beyond recognition. The skyboat clearly was one expensive piece of scenery, and the originally brief episode on it becomes an opportunity for a Robert De Niro character parody which is less than the sum of its parts, although some of the parts are novel and humorous. (The Ricky Gervais [sp?] cameo is the best new element.) The grand finale is borderline cliche (I'm being euphemistic): visually well done, but far less interesting than the book's original.

The rules of cinema rule, of course. So we get a sexy star-let (pun intended) and a beautiful (and familiar) witch; plus a good-looking Thorn who struggles with innocence (like the star, he does not have quite the touch). I think that the film is good enough to have stood on its own, although anyone coming to it fresh would be mystified by some of the segues. But having read the book first, it became a bit impossible NOT to miss the deleted elements.

As one reviewer noted, not much of Vess in this book, and none in the film, for all intents and purposes. He doesn't look that happy in his few bits in the "making-of" film, but I could be projecting. Oh well, I hope you took the money to the bank with a knowing laugh, Charles.

If you liked the film, this seems an acceptable memorabilum of it (although this is not my kind of literature). But, if you have not encountered either (original) book or film, read or see one first; then wait a while until you've forgotten the lesser details, then read or see the other. Otherwise, it's very difficult not to experience the "reimagining" as less successful than the original, no matter how good you find the film.

The book is OK. I had hoped to get the original book, but with pictures from the movie. My bad. I just bought the original book ( much better than the movie version) to go with this gift.