Book Review: Stardust The Visual Companion

If you haven't watched the movie, watch it. It's a very good movie, comically fun and charming.

This book is like the audio commentary that goes with the DVD, except it packs more interesting details. The advantage of a book in this case is, it enjoyed at a more leisurely pace.

Although Amazon stated that this book is hard covered, the copy I have in my hands is actually soft covered. Not much difference really, since it doesn't take away anything.

This is a "Making of" book. The process of creating the movie is well documented. You'll get to read about every minute detail that happens on set, like how much it cost Neil Gaiman to write the story — A blue Watermans fountain pen, two notebooks and many cups of tea.

There's the evolution of the story from its illustrated form to its movie equivalent. This book has what makes "Making of" books great, it explains the story and everything else related to the story. You'll understand from character casting, scene composition to prop designs that all linked back to the story and add to it in some way.

The book is also rich in comments from Neil Gaiman, the directors and actors. That's like following these people on set while they are filming.

Plenty of high quality movie stills, some concept sketches and paintings are included. At the end of the book, the movie script is included. But note that this is not an art book. The focus of the book is on bringing you behind the camera into the production process.

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