I have loved the Muppets since I was a child. Jim Henson, the man who created them, also did other projects with his puppets, most of which I have seen. I recently picked up Labyrinth on DVD to add to my movie collection.
Teenager Sarah has an active imagination and is frustrated because she is always expected to babysit her baby brother Toby on the weekends. One evening Toby is very fussy and Sarah gets really upset, so she uses lines from her favorite book Labyrinth to summon goblins to take Toby away, not really expecting it to work. She immediately regrets her actions when goblins actually appear and take Toby. Sarah manages to get to the magical world where she talks to Jareth, the Goblin King. He gives her an opportunity to save Toby, but it involves her having to make her way through a huge labyrinth to get to his castle. Along the way, Sarah has to deal with the various creatures and odd situations within the labyrinth.
The plot for Labyrinth is fairly straightforward and really not that complicated. There is only a small amount of set up before Toby is taken by the goblins. Those few scenes quickly establish Sarah's active imagination and unhappiness with certain aspects of her life at home. Her parents are barely shown before they head out to dinner. It does seem like they took Sarah for granted when it came to expecting her to babysit for Toby.
There is a decent amount of adventure in Labyrinth, most of it taking place after Sarah is in the world of the Goblin King trying to rescue Toby. The labyrinth she has to navigate through is massive and many different creatures live there. Most of them are loyal to the King and willing to do things that would slow Sarah down or even prevent her from finding Toby. She does manage to make a few unlikely friends. She encounters several situations that she somehow has to figure out. Those situations add to the adventure and help make things more interesting and entertaining.
The various creatures that Sarah encounters once she is in the magical world are puppets. Jareth is the only human in that world. There are many different types of creatures in that world and they all have unique looks. The puppets work very well for those characters and I think they were believable as creatures in a different world. The puppets didn't look anything like the puppets that Jim Henson used for The Muppet Show or Fraggle Rock.
There really isn't much development for any of the characters in Labyrinth, but that doesn't make the movie less entertaining for me. Sarah ends up being a likable character overall and I think it is understandable why she is frustrated with having to babysit every weekend. She doesn't always make the best decisions, which causes some of the complications in the movie. Jennifer Connelly handled the part well. Her father and stepmother are only briefly shown. Her stepmother doesn't come across as that nice and it seems like her dad just wants to keep his new wife happy. Toby is just an infant, so it isn't like he is actively doing anything throughout the movie.
Jareth is the goblin king and he's really not nice. He agrees to give Sarah a chance to rescue Toby, but then he manipulates things to try to guarantee that she will fail. Everyone in his kingdom is afraid of him and goes along with what he wants to avoid being punished in some way. David Bowie did a good job with the part. He also performed several songs throughout the movie that fit in very well with everything that was going on.
Hoggle is a short goblin that works for Jareth. Hoggle is the first creature that Sarah meets and she sees him as a friend. Hoggle does start to like her, which causes him a lot of problems since Jareth expects him to do certain things to help make sure that Sarah fails. Brian Henson did a very good job with the voice for Hoggle. Ludo is a large monster looking creature that Sarah rescues at one point. Ludo remains loyal to Sarah after that. He is very kind and doesn't say much.
Sir Didymus guards the Bog of Eternal Stench, a job he takes very seriously. He is a cute little creature that looks like a fox. Sir Didymus is very brave and will rush into danger. He decides to go along with Sarah and help her on her journey. He rides a dog named Ambrosius who is a huge coward and will run if given the chance. Several other creatures are around while Sarah is making her way through the labyrinth without them having much to do or standing out that much. Several well known Muppet performers, like Dave Goelz, Kevin Clash, and Frank Oz were involved in the movie.
Main Cast
David Bowie - Jareth the Goblin King Jennifer Connelly - Sarah Brian Henson - Hoggle Robin Mueck - Ludo David Shaughnessy - Sir Didymus
Jim Henson - Director
DVD Information
I recently decided to add Labyrinth to my DVD collection even though I didn't remember ever seeing the entire movie. The version I have only has a digital version of the movie as an extra. I have seen another version with two discs that has several extras. If I had seen that version first, I'm sure I would have gotten it instead.
Labyrinth is a very entertaining movie that has held up well. It features several puppets, though it is different from the other things that Jim Henson has done.
Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) has just made a terrible wish. She wished that her baby brother would be taken by goblins -- and her wish has come true! The...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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