FeyaVanya's Thoughts

I knew I would love it. Fallen stars, unicorns, a shining Claire Danes, a dashing hero disguised as a dork, evil, conniving, witty witches, a gaggle of dryly comedic dead princes, and a cross dressing, can-can dancing Robert DeNiro. Who could ask for more?

Well, I can.

I did love it - absolutely loved it! It's a "Princess Bride" for the 21st century, a kooky faery tale - which really are the best kind. One of my favorite lines says something like, "When you start to fit in there's something wrong", or "Be very afraid of normal"....just go see it. But I have just one quibble...where was the red-leaved talking tree modeled after Tori Amos, I ask you?

A bit of trivia: The movie is based on the novella Stardust by Neil Gaiman, a personal friend of Tori. The same "Neil" she refers to in some of her songs, i.e. "Tear In Your Hand": "If you need me, me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the dream king" (Neil also wrote a graphic novel series about dreams called The Sandman) and "Neil said 'Hi' by the way".

Neil loves Tori so much he wrote her as a talking tree in Stardust. She references this in the song "Horses" on her album Boys For Pele. She sings "And if there is a way to find you I will find you/but will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?" Now this I would have LOVED to see especially since I haven't read the book yet. I imagine this tree would have spoke (or sang?) in symbolic riddles steeped in mythology and history causing our heroes to relish the richness and depth of her message which would have warned of betrayal, basked in the complexities of love, preached of woman-power or demonstrated how to kill a waitress. Either way it would have been a revelation!!!

Perhaps they had Tori as a tree all planned for the movie, but she was too busy writing the brilliant Digital Ghost.

Here's to an almost complete movie.

*cheers*

And here's to my red-leaved talking Tori. Gah! I love her!

-Britten