I’m Ursula, the one who tolerates helps out with the HD DVD lifestyle in our house, and with kids and family home for the holidays, we thought it might be a good idea to talk about some family-oriented HD DVDs for everyone to watch together.

Stardust is a very recent release based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, and Charlie Cox, with Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais and Peter O’ Toole in smaller roles.

The story follows the transformation of a very simple village boy, Tristan (Charlie Cox), into a heroic prince. Tristan enters the nearby magical town of Stormhold through a gap in the wall that separates that city from his own. He’s there to fetch a falling star as a present for the girl he likes (Sienna Miller), and is unwittingly embroiled into a fantasy fairy tale involving witches, princes, and the magical star, who turns out to be Yvaine (Claire Danes).

Michelle Pfeiffer is really good as the villainous witch, Lamia, and some of the funnier scenes revolve around situations she’s involved in. For example, Lamia turns a billy goat into a man, but the resulting “man” (named Billy) can’t help but to keep acting like a goat.

Lamia and her sisters are after Yvaine because eating the heart of a star will restore their youth. Also hunting the star are the princes in the kingdom, who must claim the special pendant that Yvaine wears in order to become the next king. The ghosts of princes who were killed by their greedy brothers provide a lot of chuckles in this quest.

It turns out that Charlie is unknowingly a contender for the crown as well because his father crossed into Stormhold decades earlier and had a romantic encounter with a cursed and enslaved princess.

Along the way, Charlie and Yvaine meet Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro), a pirate of the skies, whose swashbuckling crew makes a living at capturing lightning. Shakespeare plays a big role in grooming Charlie into a hero.

In the end, Charlie gets the girl of his dreams, becomes the new king, frees his mother, and reunites her with his father. A sappy fairy tale ending, if there ever was one.

Perhaps it’s because the movie is shot in a lot of dark scenes, or maybe the filmmakers were going for a soft-focus effect, or some other reason, but the picture quality is not as super-crisp as on many other HD DVD titles. The Dolby Digital Plus audio is really good, featuring lots of moments where the music flourishes and enhances the scene. It’s not a horrible HD experience to run away from, and the fun story will make you easily look past these shortcomings, if they’re even that.

Stardust is sure to please the kids and the young at heart. Unless you have something against fairy tale endings, you’ll find a lot to like about this movie too.

Here are a couple of videos that might help you decide about the movie…

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This is one of the many fan-made videos:

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