From the director cannon of Jim Henson comes this 1986 movie. Having George Lucas as executive producer would be something of a bonus in production. The producer was Eric Rattay but there was a Monty Python connection with the screenplay by Terry Jones based on a story by Dennis Lee and Jim Henson again. The cost of production was $25m which looks like a big number when you realise that it recouped less than $14m from the box-office. I remember seeing a Blue Peter special about this movie and was very excited about the production of it more than the movie itself. Looking at the money side of things may appear to give the impression this movie was not liked. Well it wasn’t as liked as me but still had creditable scores from the usual two with IMDb giving it a 7.4 out of 10 and Rotten Tomatoes was pretty much agreeing with a 72%. It is just me that loved it more! After the poor performance at the box office it has found traction after the fact with a bit of a cult following thereafter.
The plot is going to get a general overview, 16 year old Sarah Williams loves her fantasy stories and lifestyle. We join her in the park reciting from a book called ‘The Labyrinth’ with her dog Merlin. She is having too much fun and doesn’t realise that she is late for babysitting her younger brother Toby. It bursts into rain as she is running home so arrives late and soaked. Her parents points this out to her and she is left feeling sorry for herself. She later wishes that Toby is taken by the goblins and reciting the correct words they appear and take him. This sets up the film as the goblin king Jareth arrives and sets her a challenge to retrieve Toby as he has 13 hours before turning into a goblin himself. To retrieve her brother she has to complete the Labyrinth with the goblin castle at the centre of it and take him back. The Labyrinth is not just a maze there are traps, tricks, strange creatures and strange adventures ahead for Sarah as she goes about the challenge of reaching the castle and saving her brother. She gains some friends along the way who help her and some that hinder.
I think this is a great movie for those like me. It fits into the dungeons and dragons kid that used to stay after school to play it. The love of Jim Henson was already there and some little nuggets of other info as well. Red Dwarf connection with Danny John-Jules and Frank Oz. Well this is a great story with really clever scenes with inventive ways of doing different puppetry work. This was one of the last if not the last movie from Jim and it makes me sad to think that it was the not the hit it deserved to be. The effects and the way things appear of screen are clever, ok you can see how its done but it is still clever. The characters are likeable and that includes the ‘bad guys’ as well. Ludo is my favourite but they are all good and easy to grow attached to. This is a nice movie and it spoons feeds you many reasons to love it and I’ve not even mentioned the musical numbers which just carry this along even more. You have to have seen this movie but if you haven’t you have missed out and only you can do something about it.
Next up its time for Brewster to be embarrassed by doing still things whilst chasing vampires…
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