Labyrinth (1986)

[Edgy MD]

This fantasy brought together George Lucas, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Brian Froud, Terry Jones, David Bowie, Trevor Jones, future-Hensonian stars Kevin Clash and Brian Henson, and future-Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly. That's a lot of talent in 1986 dollars, but it was a box office failure.

It grew into a cult classic in later years and was recently re-released in 35-mm, the format in which I took it in this weekend.

It's a fable with a moral that said, "Sure, it's fun to indulge in your kiddy playthings, but don't live in them as you cry about the unfair world not indulging you."

The main reason to have gone back to see it, of course, was to indulge in kiddy playthings.

Edited August 6, 2007 by Guest

[TransMonk]

My wife loves this movie. I didn't care for it when I was eleven and like it even less now.

[Edgy MD]

So I assume you gave it the one star in five. Who gave it the four?

[Elster88]

Jennifer Connelly

[Vic Sage]

no, its pronounced, ".....mmmmmm, Jennifer Connnnnelly....."

i liked it ok when i first saw it, but i haven't seen it since.

[Edgy MD]

There was a book that's worth seeking out called The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins, that Terry Jones and Brian Froud produced as they were developing the script and design of the film. The were clearly up to something a little different as they created their pantheon, conceiving of goblin society as a direct satire of human British society.

I recommend the book highly. (It was re-released as The Goblins of the Labyrinth, but go with the original if you can, as it detaches itself from the movie. That barely comes through, and the film is's not sure what it wants to be: adult satire, cute childhood fantasy, moral fable, subversive sendup, a little light vulgar humor for the 13-year-olds.

Nobody toed that line better than the muppets in the The Muppet Show and the original Muppet Movie. But here they're telling adults to put aside childish things and kids to revel in them, and it gets boring watching them trying to ungarble the message.

A lot of cool stuff here: the contact juggling, the showdown in an MC Escher illustration, some (but certainly not all) of Bowie's songs, but you have to sit through some things that don't work at all --- fart jokes, British dubbing, some overly cloying characters that the Muppets historically wouldn't have indulged. The wikipedia article includes a handful of characters and subplots that didn't make it into the final cut, but I didn't notice any new material in the cut I saw over the weekend.

Two and a half stars out of five. One of Henson's interestingly ambitious failures from the eighties.

[Edgy MD]

I met another couple who is crazy about this film, but both admit they can't remember the last time they saw it.

I think the world is full of women who want to like this because they want to think of themselves as still having that girl that in them, and men who want to like this because they want to like everything about their girl, but nobody actually liking this.

That Brian Froud got to design this film and Alan Lee got to design Lord of the Rings muist really come between the two of them.

[Elster88]

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/56129/rembert-explains-the-80s-david-bowies-dance-magic-dance-fro-labyrinth

[Edgy MD]

In case you were wondering, this infant is currently around 26 years of age. If this is you, once infant, please contact Grantland.com, immediately

Toby Froud: