Stardust Review

Messages: Backstabbing, literally and figuratively, of Shakespearean proportions. A father pits his sons against each other. Brothers murder each other (with knives, poison, etc.) in a bid to take their father's throne. Witch sisters scream at each other as they try to find Yvaine and kill her. A young woman demands a present from a suitor she doesn't like that much. A young man engages in a one-night stand that produces a son. There are also homophobic overtones in terms of how a pirate is portrayed.

Violence: Surprising amounts of fantasy/swashbuckling violence, including swordfights, knifings, and sorcery that ends in murder (a man drinks poison and keels over, another man is pushed off a ledge) and destruction. In one particularly brutal scene, a witch drowns a man with a voodoo doll and uses his body to try to stab another. In another scene, she slits a victim's throat. Animals are also killed for witchcraft, and Yvaine is being pursued so a sorceress can eat her heart.

Sex: No nudity, but some kissing and a few cleavage shots. A young woman seduces a young man and gets pregnant (nothing explicit is shown). Tristan and Yvaine spend a night together, though the audience only sees them together under the covers.

Language: Quite benign; mostly just insults ("idiots") and the occasional "damn."

Consumerism: Not an issue

Drinking, drugs and smoking: Pirates drink, before, during, and after pillaging. Tristan and Victoria steal away for a picnic where they drink champagne.