Dark Crystal

A well crafted and interesting movie! It was good but lacked a bit of world building so that this magical world of Thra feels a bit empty! The 2019 Netflix Show shads light into this "empty" world and impoves upon it greatly! So I recommend watching the Show first. This is just my opinion, comming from a guy who is a few years to young to have watched the movie back in the 80s.

Finally I would like to say to the critics of puppeteering: JUST GIVE IT A CHANCE! It is really good!

You know, I'm not a fan of the majority of Jim Henson's work. I despise THE MUPPETS and generally all related things, finding them twee and unfunny; I was the same when I was a kid. Call me a curmudgeon, or old before my time, but this shouty, over the top type of humour just isn't my cup of tea at all. What a surprise, then, that Henson should make THE DARK CRYSTAL, one of the finest dark fantasy films of the 1980s!

I had this film on video as a child and it's a memorable film when you watch it as a kid - and for all the wrong reasons! That's because THE DARK CRYSTAL is a completely HORRIFIC film for a child to watch. I remember being scared out of my wits by the stuff on show here - the crumbling corpse, the enforced stripping sequence, the striders dying, and of course the essence-stealing scene, which is still disturbing even when I watch this back as an adult.

The level of cruelty and violence on display makes THE DARK CRYSTAL stand out from other, more twee stuff like LEGEND and LABYRINTH, and indeed I think this gives it an edge to the competition. Otherwise, the production values are strong, the characters memorable and the quest-style storyline fits with the material just right. THE DARK CRYSTAL is an underrated children's movie and one which beats every other animation or puppet film I can think of from the 1980s.

Finally,I was looking to write a review on one of my favourite Non-Asian Fantasy movies of all time and here I found it!The Dark Crystal is definitely that!

Hmmmmmmm,where to start?Well,we have heard a similar story of good vs. evil from J.R.R Tolkien,but not one so realistic though!But probably the high point is the very deep character development.Probably have to agree with Riza about the skeksis here.They do seem like the most intresting of all the characters (save for Augra). I would not want to run up into them in the dark,or the light for that matter.Jen and Kira are very cute,but I think Kira is a little more interesting than Jen (no,I'm not sexist,I just think that Jen seemed rather emotionless most of the time,but then again,that's what you get by being raised by emotionless creatures).

Not too many flaws in the film.The story is great,the characters are fantastic,the soundtrack is uplifting,the SFX are more real that anything in "The Phantom Menace" and the ending.....well,it needed to be a little realistic,and the lengh needed to be a little bit longer,but other than that,we have a near-flawless masterpiece right up here!

This sprawling, part-homage-part-totally original fantasy brings us Jen, the last of a group of near extinct creatures who is the only one who can save all existence by bringing a crystal shard back into the balance of the dark crystal, in order to save the world from the evil Skekses. This is quite an enthralling film, and like with the other full-on Muppet films this works on different levels for kids and for adults. Kids may be both scared and enthralled by the scope and details, not to mention the graphic nature of the darker elements portrayed (as a kid I cringed a bit when the 'vital essence' scenes came up). And for adults there's a lot of great craftsmanship that goes into the story, which is with all of the effects and over-the-top creations very well told by directors Henson and Oz. Without the massive usage of CGI or the more controlled visuals from the past fifteen or so years, the mix of the production design (maybe some of the best ever in any fantasy film) and the inventiveness put into the set-pieces and character-creations, is a knockout even by today's standards. It's almost a shame looking back on how a film like this that employs so many people and such time is now spent clicking away on a computer to get it all done. As it is, the Dark Crystal is one of those few examples in post-modern cinema that it does seem something like a sci-fi novel come to life.

This movie is like an odd, but wonderful dream. It takes place in a fantasy world, created by the talented duo, Frank Oz and Jim Henson. Everything in this film is so meticulously done, that it still lives on to this day. Computer effects be damned. This film has texture, and it is pleasing to watch. This movie, as you will see, was made for kids. But really, it is a masterpiece in film-making. True, good, story-telling. Sure, kids will love it, but the film isn't really aimed at them like most kid movies are. It is complicated, eerie, beautiful, and intelligent... most of all, mystical. I reccomend this to anyone seriously interested in film, especially fantasy... not to be missed!