Stardust, 2007's lavish visual feast of a fantasy movie, is set for a March 4th release on Blu-ray through Paramount Home Entertainment. Based on the novel from the fertile imagination of English fantasy author Neil Gaiman - who wrote Coraline, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, American Gods, as well as revolutionary comic book series Sandman - the film adaptation was directed by fellow Englishman (and Guy Ritchie crony) Matthew Vaughn, who brought us 2004 gangster flick Layer Cake, starring future 007 Daniel Craig.

The film is a creditable translation of Gaiman's book and director Vaughn would probably be admired for the job he did by even the most staunchly purist Gaiman fan. Starting in the mythical town of Wall, Stardust tells the story of a clumsy young romantic, Tristan Thorn, who promises to retrieve a fallen star for the woman he loves, little rich girl Victoria. He travels to Stormhold, where the star fell, to find a massive crater but no rock. To his surprise he finds that the fallen star is a rather spirited young woman who goes by the name of Yvaine. This is a woman who is bruised and battered and not too happy about being struck from her celestial perch in the heavens. She is even less impressed at Tristan's plan to kidnap her and take her back to Wall. But the two are going to have to at least try to get along if they're going to evade two brat princes, a band of brutal sky pirates and three evil youth-seeking witches, all of whom want the star Yvaine for themselves.

Stardust is an unabshedly flamboyant fantasy with an all-star cast that doesn't disappoint. Michelle Pfeiffer gives an especially stellar, menacing performance as lead witch Lamia; Claire Danes is great as fallen star Yvaine; Robert De Niro is... strange as Captain Shakespeare of the sky pirates; and virtual unknown Charlie Cox more than holds his own in such distinguished company as the lovelorn swashbuckler Tristan. Stardust was critically acclaimed upon its cinematic release but in the wake of 90's fantasy blockbusters like Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia films and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it didn't quite get the recognition it deserved. It received several awards in the fantasy/sci-fi category of ceremonies in both the US and UK. In fact, the film received the dubious honour of being Overlooked Film of the Year at the 2008 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. If you don't want to be one of the Stardust "overlookers," pick it up on Blu-ray from March 4th.