Die Reise ins Labyrinth

Oh dear, Jim Henson, you are sorely missed. Not necessarily because you went before your time, or even in somewhat rotten circumstances. No, it is because unlike the purveyors of so-called family entertainment these days, your work was actually entertaining to the whole family. When I was a lad, I used to think these films were childish and patronising. By comparison to what is being aimed at the children of my cousins, it is MENSA material, and I realise now that it was far more brilliant than I had previously given it credit for. Indeed, compared to the "you're not good if you don't have good feelings" rubbish that the likes of B'Harni fill the heads of children with, Henson productions deserve a medal.

At its heart, Labyrinth is a simple fable about how much we miss something once it is gone. A young girl wishes that her annoying stepbrother would disappear, only to find when he is gone that she misses him. Enter the Goblin King, played with a great malice by David Bowie. The challenge the Goblin King sets almost sounds like a video game. Indeed, one popular Commodore 64 game of the time set the challenge of collecting the pieces to solve a key puzzle to save the world in a certain time period. Labyrinth was even adapted into a game for the Commodore 64. In Labyrinth the film, this young woman named Sarah, played with a certain kind of brilliance by a young Jennifer Connelly, is challenged to navigate a massive labyrinth in less than thirteen hours, lest her brother become one of the Goblins.

It sounds like a very simple idea, and it is. What makes Labyrinth the under-appreciated classic that it is is in the details. As previously indicated, the leads are absolutely brilliant. While David Bowie chews scenery like there is no tomorrow, Jennifer Connelly gets so into her character that she makes it seem perfectly natural when she is interacting with some of Jim Henson's most ludicrous creations. The scene in which she rescues a giant yeti-like thing called Ludo is one of the most superbly-made things in the history of children's film. It is also worth noting that in contrast to the aforementioned normalism of B'Harni and his ilk, Henson's creations taught the valuable lesson that appearances are not the sum total of a living creature's character. Ludo looks like he could tear apart our protagonist, but his manner and speech show him as one of the most gentle and lovable characters ever depicted in film.

As you might guess from this film featuring David Bowie as the top-billed star, there are also a few song and dance numbers. Some of them, such as the magic dance number, are immortally embarrassing. Or at least, they would be, if not for two things. First, the suspension of disbelief that Henson so admirably achieves with his puppets is a real pleasure. Second, Bowie's golden voice could charm the paint off walls. When he sings "I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry", it stands out like a stark reminder of why this man used to be able to sign record deals worth tens of millions of dollars. It may even bring tears to your eyes.

If Labyrinth does have a weakness, it is in the closing reels. The final song from Bowie stretches the scene beyond its welcome, but it recovers nicely once Sarah returns to the real world. The compositing work in the Firey sequence is rather lousy, and the story seems to grind to a halt when they do their song and dance number. On the other hand, their song and dance number is still incredibly amusing to behold.

In all, I gave Labyrinth an eight out of ten. It is not perfect. In fact, I wonder if whomever designed Bowie's costume was not playing an elaborate joke upon him. But for all of its problems, Labyrinth is an underrated classic. One of the few films that is advertised as being for all ages, and can entertain audiences of that description. A great light went out in our world when Jim Henson passed away.

By today's standards "Labyrinth" may look dated and cheap but there's something about it that makes it special.

David Bowie makes it a stand alone movie in the weird ranking. The man is crazy but his performance is excellent!

Jennifer Connely (being 16 at the time) delivers a solid and tender performance. She was very, very cute and her performance totally gained the audience's love.

The tale is fantastic and keeps you interested from the beginning to the end. The musical moments are also great! The f/x were great for it's time and I wonder how they came out with the idea for creating such original characters.

The thing that I liked the most about the movie is it's art direction. The world that is created is taken directly from everyone's fantasy world idea. Colorful and dark at the same time.

Better than the "Neverending Story" movies, "Labyrinth" should be watched for lovers of sci-fi.

Growing up as a child in 1980's New York, I remember being inspired by many fantasy and science fiction films, that eventually led me to start writing short stories myself (from there to my current occupation of journalism the road was quite short, BTW). Titles like The Neverending Story, Flight of the Navigator and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? captured my imagination and filled me with aw, and with time found their way to my ever growing DVD collection, as did Jim Henson's Labyrinth, the latest addition to my nostalgic bundle of joy.

The saddest thing about all this is that no one seems to make films like Labyrinth anymore. Viewing it again at the age of 25 just made me appreciate it even more, for all of it's breathtaking imaginative figures, rich scenery and original plot; especially when some of the scenes seem somewhat dated while the essence and heart of the film remain in tact, even twenty years down the road.

In short, Labyrinth is one of Jim Henson's last attempts at creating cross-age entertainment through his world famous puppets, after bringing life to the eternal beloved characters of The Muppets and Sesame Street, and before his sudden and premature death. The story presents us 16 year old Sarah (a very young Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind), who has an extremely vivid imagination she uses to escape her everyday worries... or so it seems. After asked to take care of her baby stepbrother, Toby, Sarah finds herself dealing with a screaming infant, instead of wondering away in her thoughts to a world filled with Goblins, Yeti-like creatures, and a King Atrhur-ish talking dog. After several lacking attempts at calming the baby down, she wishes Toby to the evil Goblin King Jareth. Fantasy and fiction clash when Jareth (the one and only rock singer David Bowie, who appears on screen with an extravagant 80's outfit and some cute yet unnecessary songs) actually takes Toby away to his evil kingdom, where he threatens to transform the baby into a Goblin, if Sarah won't find a way to cross a tricky and mystical Labyrinth on the way to his kingdom. Determined to save her brother, Sarah makes her way through the Labyrinth, meeting helpful friends along the way, whilst magical fantasy happenings occur around her...

This is a true 1980's gem. Treat it with care, and enjoy!

This is a classic fantasy film from Jim Henson, in collaboration with George Lucas. There really is a magic about the film and that has helped it last as a firm family favourite all these years. As with many films aimed at younger audiences there are messages that the writers, in this case Henson himself, have tried to convey, such as `be careful what you wish for (as in the heat of the moment we are not always sure what is best for us) and also about not taking things for granted. These lessons not only relate to the major target audience of young children but also teenagers and adults alike. The film also has values and attitudes about growing up, the central character Sarah is in the awkward stage between child and womanhood, the stage of adolescence. She acts like a child in her self importance and possessiveness but she is perhaps starting to grow out of her young imagination. She does not want to, her room full of inanimate companions, dreams and fantasies, she feels are slipping away.

Labyrinth is about Sarah keeping her imagination alive, her fantasies and dreams, and these help her figure out what she is doing wrong, it helps her realise how her attitude is wrong and causes her to be depressed. There is certainly intelligence to this film if analysed deeply. There is depth to the script, and clear attitudes and values that Jim Henson conveys. Henson is in a way telling not just kids, but also adults, that our subconscious, which includes our dreams and imaginative side (in terms of taking yourself to another place, more than imagination in creating something like a piece of music for instance.) can be as affective a guide to where and when your live is going wrong as your conscious. Sometimes we don't realise things we have said or done until we dream. How many times have you said something, that every teen must have to their parents, for instance `I wish you were dead', very cruel but it is said. I have in the past and realised the full implication in a bad dream, a dream is the most effective doorway to imagine something outside of it really happening.

What is fantastic about the way the film opens and closes as that it really hints to the fact that Sarah has been through the same dream before, and that she needs these imaginative friends, and dreams to help her see the light as it were. She says for instance at the close that every now and again she needs Hoggle and company. The opening of the film sees Sarah reciting from a book to herself, she is addressing the Goblin king and the characters of this book and her room are the cast of a play inside her mind, they are special to her and meaningful, in a way we might have a favourite song that speaks to us in some way. At the start of the film when we are first in her room there is clever use of visual hints that you wouldn't pick up on until watching a film the second time. Look around her room and you see the characters everywhere, Hoggle, Ludo even a little replica of a maze. There is also a clipping of Sarah's mother, who we do not know whether she is still alive, but in any case is not around, but she is with a man who is the likeness of the Goblin King. The man in the photo probably a figure of blame for the loss (however large) of Sarah's mother. What is also interesting is Sarah being a young girl at the start of puberty has a certain fascination and perhaps crush on the Goblin King, perhaps a combination of the character from the book and the likeness of which she has created this character in her head. Certainly on a visual and script basis there are some clever touches when you consider this is a kids film.

The film itself is much like the Wizard of Oz in terms of story (intentional maybe as it could represent something that Sarah finds special and perhaps inspirational). What I really love about the film is, that before the days of CGI, inside the Goblin world, which accounts for 90% of the film, everything is 100% set work, there must be well over a hundred sets and they are all imaginative an create the enchanting atmosphere of the film, these sets combined with some fantastic matte paintings from ILM that give even more of a scale to the film.

I do really like this film, the look, the cheesy feel good 80's music, the characters, it is all great. There is some good humour and of course the odd piece of very childish low brow humour but that is to be expected. It is movie magic no question. David Bowie is good as the Goblin King and all the puppeted characters are fantastically brought to life in there movements and voicing as you would expect from a Henson film. A very youthful Jennifer Connelly before the days when many a website was devoted to her ample bosom, has a charm to her, she has to hold the movie together and win the audience, especially after being very bratty and effectively wishing her baby brother into the clutches of Goblins. She does manage to win the audience though and enchant them with her green eyes and youthful innocence.

This film is great, it is what makes, or made fantasy films of this time really enchanting. Real artistry was involved, there was exuberance and charm to it and it has lasted a long time. It is a firm fans favourite and still gains new young fans. I can still to this day sit down and enjoy the film because I remember what Jim Henson tries to teach us. `Keep the inner child alive inside you sometimes he/she actually knows best'. Perhaps certain events in recent years may have panned out differently had this been heeded by more people, but that is all just hear say.

Overall this is a classic fantasy film with much artistry and charm to appreciate, certainly Henson had a skill in all his fields in the industry. ****

Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) is a teenage girl who lives in a fantasy world of goblins and magic. But her fantasy becomes reality when the Goblin King (David Bowie) takes her stepbrother. Now she has thirteen hours to solve the massive Labyrinth and make her way to the Goblin castle beyond. Along the way she befriends several of Henson's fantastic Muppet creations for the final battle.

This wonderfully produced and magical fantasy is great fun from the beginning to the end. Henson (fresh off the equally impressive Dark Crystal) 'mines his imagination for very realistic places and endearing and vivid characters. Toping it all off is a wonderful casting and a nice soundtrack and musical score.