Labyrinth

Jim Henson can be placed in an everlasting context in sealed Bundt pans as it hasn’t been even a decade since The Muppets came on The Muppet Show television series which was released in the 1980’s and even then, kids around the world went crazy in the same way. Henson’s art has always had the dynamic triumvirate of color, charm, and downright cuteness.

However, my motherboard did not seem impressed by such things. When Jim Henson got bored with his work and started creating Muppet baby bears with eyes and smiles, he began creating puppets as he saw fit. And with that he created Henson’s Creature Shop, a company for the production of his emotions which later expanded to creating convenience of choreography and construction, where adorable puppets and animatronics worked together for the greatest film developers in the business.

Of course, nobody would be satisfied with just being employees. Great characters deserved their own stories, something grand. That’s how Jim ventured into world of telling stories on screen in the making of ‘The Dark Crystal’ in 1982 and ‘Labyrinth’ in 1986.

Indeed, the incorporation of traditional puppetry in ‘The Dark Crystal’ was indeed a step forward, but ‘Labyrinth’ surpassed in offering a combination of human along with creature effect thanks to the presence of David Bowie who also wrote 5 tracks and sang them. Some of the songs featured in the movie were great, but overpowering them must be ‘Underground’; it’s impossible to dislodge it from your head even after two decades of not hearing it anymore.

‘Labyrinth’ A Goblin called Toby. Alright? Meet Sarah (Jennifer Connelly). She’s a 17-year-old girl, and let’s say she has a baby brother named Toby (who was played by ‘Conceptual Designer’s’ son, Toby Froud) whose care she has to take on nice evenings her father and step-mother decide to break the ‘no more romance’ policy.

To make things worse, Sarah wishes that the goblin king would just take Toby and carry him to the Periwinkle Wood, because this wish makes perfect sense. For most of my childhood, I considered my brother to be quite an annoyance, but those rocky sentiments toward him can be surprisingly swept free. If only I’d knew back in the days that it is that easy… or, ignore me.

Of course, there is no need to wonder why Sarah regrets her actions shortly after seeing the Goblin King pull away with the ankle biter. The Goblin king then explains that he will personally turn the child into a pixie unless Sarah goes through his castle in the maze he made called “the Labyrinth” to rescue the child.

And so this twisted tale starts with Sarah receives help from a treacherous dwarf Hoggle, a bunch of talking doorknocks and a huge orange fuzz called Ludo to name a few who all simultaneously assist Sarah in her quest as much as they obstruct it.

It’s often said never appear with kids or dogs (still not sure what they say about Muppets), but David Bowie somehow manages to swim through and come out with a Rock Star image intact, because the musical numbers have lots of life in them. He does not ever seem to be that sinister or evil as there is always the presence of comic relief in the plot.

Bowie did have some shots with a mic and the screaming baby and to stop the baby from screaming the mic stand down, Bowie had a Sooty puppet on his hand just out of sight. The movie claimed to have something for the grown ups as well as the kids, and the climax for women audience members has got to be towards the end when Mr. Bowie comes on stage dressed up in pale grey tights so tight that you can actually guess his faith.

Jennifer Connelly looks pretty convincing in her teenage years and meshes well with the creatures. This is really not a film about worrying about the characters it is a fantasy after all. One should aim to be the true star of the movie, the character Ludo, who is huge and furry but would be perfect for the movie’s merchandising.

I recollect when I worked at the Moving Image Museum, the actual creature was on display, and it was enormous. It used to make one wonder how, with a video camera mounted on one horn and a monitor fitted in its stomach, one actor/puppeteer, inside the suit, had been able to control the suit without losing weight because the heat inside must have been unbearable.

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