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Review #236, Movie #307
Labyrinth




Year Of Release
1986


Director/s
Jim Henson


Producer/s
Eric Rattray


Writer/s
Terry Jones, Dennis Lee, Jim Henson


Cast
Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie, Brian Henson, Frank Oz and Kevin Clash


Notes And Trivia
Along with a number of puppetry and mime artists like Frank Oz and Kevin Clash, none other than Danny John-Jules makes an appearance in Labyrinth. He voices one of the weird and wonderful “Firey” puppets, the ones who remove their own arms, legs and heads. John-Jules, a dancer and singer, is best known to British audiences as “Cat” in the Red Dwarf comedy series.

Labyrinth is heavily influenced by movies like The Wizard Of Oz and the works of the late Maurice Sendak.

Sendak’s work as an illustrator brought us things like the much respected Where The Wild Things Are and In The Night Kitchen.

What’s interesting about Labyrinth in terms of influence is that it has itself been influential on modern day stories, mainly Harry Potter.
Mysterious and magical Owls. The names Hogwart, Ludo and Hermione. The mentioning of a Goblin King in The Philosopher’s Stone. The Labyrinth itself and rescuing someone within a set time. The influence behind Rowling’s “Animagi”. The usage and importance of the crystal orbs. The speech about dreams given by Dumbledore in The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Plus hundreds more.

Another thing, what I said about the movie Willow, in an earlier review in this thread, that’s the 1988 fantasy film Willow starring Warwick Davis.
I mentioned how Willow was the Granddaddy of CGI in movies because of its use of that morphing scene.
Labyrinth outdates Willow by over 2 years, and the entire start sequence with the Owl, is totally CG and marks the first ever attempt at a photorealistic animal using CGI in a major motion picture. There’s also a touch of CGI (and rotoscoping) when it comes to the “Firey” creatures too.
So, in retrospect, Labyrinth is the real Granddaddy of CGI in movies.


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Synopsis:
Sarah, an imaginative 15 year old girl is in a bit of a pickle. Her Father and Stepmother have had a baby boy, Toby. And seemingly, all they want to do is go out and socialise, leaving Sarah in charge of her Stepbrother.

And all Toby ever does is cry, causing Sarah even more grief.

One night, while left alone with Toby yet again, Sarah recites to him the story of The Labyrinth, which is a book she has been reading, in an attempt to vengefully tease and scare the crying Toby… and she wishes the Goblins would come and take Toby away forever and end her grief.

But as she turns out the light in Toby’s bedroom, Toby’s cries immediately stop.

Review:

Oh boy. I saw this movie way back when I was a kid and had never forgotten about it, but couldn’t remember a large enough amount of it to warrant buying the DVD.
Gladly, it was on TV the other day while I was round at a friend’s house and I got the chance to see this slice of 80s fantasy cheese and hammy antagonists again.

And what a huge chunk of fun it is.

There’s a lavish world filled with monsters and creatures of all shapes and designs and Henson and his geniuses have pulled out all the stops to make a rich and fulfilling fantasy movie, packed with humour and peril and a pretty good, albeit simplistic, plotline to back it up.

Now, there are many similarities with this film as with Henson’s other fantasy The Dark Crystal (1982).
The exposition in Labyrinth is lacking somewhat and the legend behind the world they’ve created is amateur at best. There’s no real meaning to it.
It’s simply a world, ruled by a Goblin King. And that’s it. Much like TDC, it’s a case of ”here’s this world, let’s just get on with it” and no genuine explanation behind it all and it gives an air of “why?” about it all.
What I’m on about, is other fantasy films and stories like LOTR, or even Star Wars, which have an organic and believable (albeit imaginary) history to them. Labyrinth, like The Dark Crystal before it, has none of that.

However, the film does have a solid background that comes from Henson and his team.
The puppetry and special effects in this film are by far some of the finest I’ve ever seen.
The kind of level they’re on is that of Audrey II in Little Shop Of Horrors (1986), which coincidentally was connected to Danny John-Jules and Frank Oz as well.
The film as a whole is brilliantly pieced together through the puppets, muppets, animatronics and occasional use of CGI, camera tricks and some awesome costumes. One of which, called “The Junk Lady”, reminded me a of a technique recently seen in the Star Wars Episode VII “JJ Abrams thank you video” on YouTube.
It’s really more about showcasing their brilliant techniques and their mastery of the craft with a plotline of sorts behind it to give some credibility to what they’re doing.

Some of the action is also top notch, especially how they were dealing with puppets and animatronics. It’s pretty darned exciting at times too as the audience-character connection makes the hits of peril more, well, perilous than it could have been.
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The acting is pretty good too.
David Bowie stars as our head antagonist Jareth, the Goblin King. Bowie is seemingly having a ton of fun with the role, surrounded by muppets, puppets and little people in costumes. However, when he’s given a freer reign with the scenes, Bowie really shines. He’s engaging, fun, camp and full of charisma. His delivery of some of the more scripted lines are a little amateur though.
He also sports some wonderfully tight trousers throughout that leave little to the imagination

A young Jennifer Connelly plays Sarah. And for such a young actress to take the lead of the film, Connelly makes a proper job of it. She lifts the slightly weaker dialogue and direction from Jim Henson to new heights and tbh, Connelly makes this movie tie together with her natural ability to make the unbelievable believeable.

Back up comes from too-many-to-count mime artists and puppetry masters.
But let’s just say, Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Jim Henson and his Son Brian are heading the creatures on show.


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All in all, one of the best puppet/muppet movies ever made. Brilliantly choreographed and is a showcase of mastery when it comes to the effects and dedicated work from Henson’s team of Wizards.

A little amateur in the writing stakes but filled with a kicking 80s fantasy soundtrack, decent acting from our Female lead and David Bowie being as camp and as hammy as humanly possible.

My Rating: 94%