Labyrinth
Following the success of The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson turned his attention to bringing another dark fantasy to the big screen. Brian Froud, who provided the conceptual designs for the previous film was tasked with creating creatures for a new world within a labyrinth. And Monty Python's Terry Jones signed on to write the screenplay based on a story from Henson and Dennis Lee heavily influenced by The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Maurice Sendak's Outside Over There. The film is so closely related to the latter, it nearly prevented Labyrinth's release until legal complaints were settled.
Returning to theaters for a limited engagement for its 40th Anniversary, Labyrinth holds up pretty well, particularly in its look and design and choice of its main two human actors. Jennifer Connelly stars as the self-involved Sarah, often lost in her own fantasy world and resenting having to look after her baby stepbrother Toby. Drawing from a book she's been reading, Sarah wishes for goblins to take Toby away. When her wish is granted she pleads with the Goblin Kng Jareth (David Bowie) who offers her the opportunity to save her brother if she can solve his labyrinth and find the baby within 13 hours.
Aside from the initial setup and epilogue, the entire film takes place inside the labyrinth where Sarah meets a variety of odd creatures created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop most notably the cowardly Hoggle (Shari Weiser and Brian Henson), the gigantic Ludo (Rob Mills and Ron Mueck), and the chivalrous Sir Didymus (Dave Goelz and David Shaughnessy) who she will befriend on her journey which can be seen as Sarah leaving childish things behind and becoming a woman.
Set to music written by Bowie, including performances sung to his odd collection of goblins, and Trevor Jones' score, the film is a fever dream and you can see why it might have been a hard sell to parents expecting the next Muppet movie, hitting theaters just two years after The Muppets Take Manhattan, and finding something quite different. However, the production design and creatures all work to successfully create the fantastic world Henson was after.
The film isn't without its flaws. Connelly's Sarah is a bit grating early on, constantly whining and bemoaning her troubles, and the actors cast as her parents are more props than notable characters. As for her journey in the maze, the film is more a collection of events and characters than a linear journey from beginning to end, some of which fits together better than other sequences.
Garnering a mixed response from both critics and audiences, Labyrinth greatly underperformed at the box office compared to The Dark Crystal earning back only half of its budget domestically (although it did better overseas). However, the film found its audience over the years on home video and streaming to the extent that you could argue its more well known today than The Dark Crystal. I would still rate The Dark Crystal as the more successful and fully-realized film, but Bowie's involvement and Connelly's later stardom do help give Labyrinth a larger pop culture footprint.
- Title: Labyrinth
- IMDb: link
