One of the great things about Blu-ray is that you can come across some gems you may have missed when they were previously unavailable on the impressive format. Stardust, first released in 2007, is one such gem.

Based on Neil Gaiman’s novel, it follows the adventures of Tristan (Charlie Cox) – a young man who works in a shop, madly in love with the aloof Victoria (Sienna Miller). To prove to her how head-over-heels he truly is with her, he vows to go in search of the star they both witnessed fall from the sky, and bring it back to her.

The problem is, the star had fallen somewhere on the other side of a wall. Not just any old wall, mind: this one contains the portal to another world, Stormhold. Getting there isn’t that big of an obstacle, but Tristan is unaware that he’s not the only one searching for the fallen star. The reason it fell in the first place was due to the king of Stormhold (Peter O’ Toole), who threw a ruby into the sky on his death bed, colliding with the star.

He then tells the numerous heirs to his throne that whoever retrieves it will be the next king. This challenge brings out the competitive nature in all the princes; not only do they all want to get the ruby, they’re quite prepared to kill each other in the process for it.

Also in the mix is Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) a witch who goes off in search of the fallen star, as it has the abilities to make herself and her two sisters youthful again, like a celestial tub of Olay.

I think this is more than just a bad hair day...

When Tristan finally discovers the crater where the star landed with a bump, he realises that it takes the very human shape of Yvaine (Claire Danes). Yvaine agrees to go back with Tristan, but only on the condition that he will help get her back to the sky afterwards. And so the pair’s magical and perilous journey out of Stormhold begins.

Previous to this, Matthew Vaughn had only directed gangster flick Layer Cake. Before that he produced Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch for mate Guy Ritchie. Stardust then, was a world and away from such blokey material. Considering the sheer scale of it, Vaughn managed remarkably well.

Taking the source material of Gaiman (also author of Coraline), Vaughn, along with co-writer Jane Goldman (aka Mrs Jonathan Ross) created a fitting re-creation of Gaiman’s magical realm. Unlike some other films where the effects overwhelm both story and characters – ok we’ll say it, like any from the Harry Potter series – Stardust is beautifully balanced.

It doesn’t hurt that it has some top-notch talent on board: Michelle Pfeiffer appears to relish playing an ugly old witch; and Robert De Niro is obviously having a gay old time camping it up in the boots of pirate Captain Shakespeare.

Despite these A -listers, rookie actor Charlie Cox, who it has to be said has the touch of Orlando Bloom about him, puts in a sterling performance as the loved-up Tristan. It’s also a rare opportunity to see the talented Claire Danes shine, as she’s not in the habit of gracing our screens with her presence nearly enough.

And if that lot weren’t enough, there’s a whole lot more British talent on view, including Ricky Gervais (Ferdy), Mark Strong (Septimus), Jason Flemying (Primus), Rupert Everett (Secundus) and the barley recognisable David Walliams (Sextus). In fact when/if you do recognise Walliams, you soon realise that he is woefully underused. But with a hugely talented cast, it’s understandable.

In one of the Blu-ray extras, Vaughn mentions his admiration for The Princess Bride, so it’s no surprise to see similarities with that fairy tale for grown-ups here.

It’s also the kind of film that you could have seen Terry Gilliam really sink his creative teeth into, considering the fantasy setting. That’s not to take anything away from Vaughn though; Stormhold may look like a Potter/Lord of the Rings hybrid at times, but it more than holds its own in terms of telling a thoroughly captivating tale.

If Stardust passed you by the first time around, don’t make the same mistake again. Magical.