Stardust 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Stardust 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Exclusive to Wall Mart.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 15, 2024

A 4K Steelbook variant for an existing wide-release 4K Steelbook? That's the gist of this Walmart-exclusive edition of Matthew Vaughn's Stardust, which has finally appeared on UHD and replaces a Blu-ray that's almost 15 years old now. Available both in-stores and online, it's a relatively nice collector's package with admittedly similar design elements to Paramount's standard 4K Steelbook and includes bonus art cards that fit snugly inside the case. Since it's clearly not head-and-shoulders above that slightly cheaper "regular" version, fans might struggle to make their choice.

For a synopsis and critique of the main feature, please see Martin Liebman's review of Paramount's 2010 Blu-ray. I'm in agreement that Stardust is a watchable but somewhat uneven slice of fantasy drama (not to mention that some of its CGI elements now look more dated than ever), but it's still well worth a look for fans of the cast.

Stardust 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included Blu-ray edition.

For details about the 4K disc's 2160p/HDR10 transfer, please see our review of the standard 4K Steelbook.

Stardust 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, our review of the standard 4K Steelbook also details the included DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix.

Stardust 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Like the standard 4K Steelbook, this two-disc release ships in a Steelbook with largely similar design elements. In fact, only the front cover is different here; it's more blue-dominant and less cluttered overall, trading in some of the smaller film-specific background and border elements for perhaps a more accessible or traditional image. As implied earlier, the back cover and interior spread (featuring the Caspartine in flight and all four of its main characters, respectively) look to be 100% identical, which is somewhat disappointing. Also shrinkwrapped to the back cover is a handful of art cards featuring Stardust's main characters and brief profiles of each, as well as the film's logo on the back; helpfully enough, they easily fit inside the case for storage. One nagging complaint about the packaging, though: both discs sit rather loosely on a stacked hub and it's pretty obvious that overlapping hubs would've been a much better choice.

All on-disc bonus features are identical to the standard 4K Steelbook and covered in the review link above.

Stardust 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Matthew Vaughn's Stardust has been touted as its generation's The Princess Bride... and while I certainly wouldn't go that far, it's a decently entertaining slice of sci-fi/fantasy that's worth popping in every so often. If you feel differently and consider it to be a genre favorite, you'll surely want to pick up either Paramount's standard 4K Steelbook or Walmart's Steelbook variant, although the only real difference here is the cover and a few collectible cards.