Stardust by Neil Gaiman

When Tristan tells his girlfriend, Victoria, that he will bring back a falling star for her, he means it. Stardust tells the fantasy story of how he finds the star and brings it back. Tristan lives in Victorian times in a village that shares a wall with a supernatural world of fairies and witches called Stormhold. When the falling star disappears on the other side of the wall, Tristan must go into that land to find it. His adventure is complicated as others want the star too. He must deal with a witch who wants the star to achieve long life and the king of Stormhold's sons, who want the star in order gain control of the kingdom. The star turns out to be a beautiful girl from space. Tristan finds her and promises to protect her if she will come with him to his village.

The movie does not exactly follow the book, but does a better job of it than other movies based upon books. For example, in the movie, Stormhold is a little scarier of a place than in the book. In the book, Tristan must deal with a few more "bad guys" in order to bring back the star-girl. The movie is beautiful to view, and the cast is amazing. It is one of those movies you have never heard of that end up being among your favorites.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn; Starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Charlie Cox

Movie; 13+; Paramount, 2007

Beowulf

The fact that Angelina Jolie stars as Grendel's mother is probably enough to get many of us to see this movie, but Beowulf is worth seeing just to see the classic tale brought to life. Although the movie is a little different from the book, I recommend it to anyone reading the book to help sort out the events and themes.

Beowulf is an old world version of a mercenary who travels to Denmark to vanquish the demon, Grendel, who has been terrorizing the country. Beowulf has an epic battle with Grendel and wins. However, the story is not done with Grendel's death. Grendel's mother comes to avenge her son's death leading to yet another epic battle.

On its own, the movie is not that great. The use of some animation does not work well in the movie and the characters don't have the emotion of the book's characters. Maybe the creators tried too hard to make an action movie and forgot that there is so much more to the tale than battles.

Directed by Robert Zemickis; Starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright, Crispin Glover, and Angelina Jolie

Movie; 14+; Paramount, 2007

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Eragon tells the fantasy story of Eragon, a teen farmboy who discovers he is destined to become a dragon rider when he finds a rare dragon egg while searching for food in the forest. Dragon riders in this story are much like Jedi knights in Star Wars- using magic, they are supposed to uphold good against evil and make sure justice prevails. Eragon raises the dragon and develops a tight bond with her. When his uncle is killed and his farm destroyed, Eragon and his dragon go to avenge them.

The movie is good, though not great. However, that may be because it is difficult to not compare it to other fantasy epics like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. The special effects are realistic and enjoyable in themselves (they had some help from Industrial Light and Magic). On the other hand, if you are a major fan of the book, you may have trouble with the movie. The book is epic, but the movie does not have enough time to cover all of the story's twists and details. For lovers of the book, Eragon will seem watered down and will notice that much of the original story is missing or changed. However, it is still fun and satisfying to see Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, is action. The parts of the movie that do stay true to the story manage to breath life into the book as well. Hopefully, the next installment, assuming they are making a movie of it, will have a larger budget that might allow for more time to portray the whole story.

Directed by Stefen Fangmeier; Starring Michael A. Mehlmann, Ed Speleers, Tamas Deak, and and Jeremy Irons

Movie; 10+; 20th Century Fox, 2006