Labyrinthe

The teenager Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) is forced by her father and her stepmother to babysit her baby brother Toby while they are outside home. Toby does not stop crying and Sarah wishes that her brother be taken by the Goblin King. Out of the blue, Toby stops crying and when Sarah looks for him in the cradle, she learns that he wish was granted and the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) has taken him to his castle in the Goblin City in the middle of a labyrinth. Sarah repents an asks Jareth to give Toby back; but the Goblin King tells that she has to rescue her brother before midnight, otherwise Toby will be turned into a goblin. Soon Sarah teams up with the coward goblin Hoggle, the beast Ludo and the knight Didymus and his dog Ambrosius in her journey. Will they rescue Toby in time?

"Labyrinth" is another magic film from the 80's, maybe the best decade in cinema history. It is amazing the quantity of wonderful films produced in this period and "Labyrinth" is no exception. This film makes the viewer feel good and the plot is a journey to the childhood of any adult. It is also delightful to see David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly and these puppets again. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Labirinto - A Magia do Tempo" ("Labyrinth – The Magic of the Time")

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.

The first time I saw this movie was two years ago. Don't ask me how I managed to miss it as a child but I did.

It is obvious that this movie was made for the kiddies but I don't think it can just be enjoyed by the younger crowd. I think perhaps if I had seen this as a child instead of a teenager I would have enjoyed it more but I didn't and I still enjoyed never the less. There is something magical about watching Labyrinth. You just feel the happiness that rubs off from this movie. It almost makes you wish you were a kid again. I admit seeing it now I have to say some parts are beyond corny but I think that's just part of it, I mean that was the 80's right? I am not even a David Bowie fan but I can't help but smile whenever he starts singing (which is quite often). I recently showed this to my 4 year old cousin and he couldn't get enough of it. It was so great to watch him turn his head back to look at me with a giant smile to make sure I saw the puppets doing whatever they were doing at that moment. He really loved it so I bought him the dvd for X-mas this year along with myself a copy. This is really just one of those movies you have to see at least once in your life, just because there isn't another like it. Sure the story isn't much when it comes to plot but try to watch this film all the way through without smiling once, I dare you!

A great movie for the kids or kids at heart! 8 out of 10 stars.

Absence of Muppets aside, this is probably the most Jim Henson movie ever made. On more than one occasion, it feels like the Creature Shop was running wild, coming up with all manner of strangeness just to put in the film. The creativity is never more apparent than during the Shaft of Hands scene; only a gaggle of puppeteers could've pulled that off. Man, it must've been a lot of fun working on this movie!

This is only one reason Labyrinth excels (and lives on past the '80s). The teen angst is real, the songs are great, the lines are funny . . . and then there's David Bowie. The Goblin King brought to life. Bowie struts around the sets with godlike command, at home not only in the role but also the songs, and he offers one hell of a performance. He's exceptional here.

I haven't seen this since I was a teenager, and it holds up very well. It pleases me greatly that the worm has sort of become a staple in my house. We all love doing the accent. "Don't go that way! Nevah go that way! *sigh* Shoulda kept on goin' down that way, she'da gone straight to the castle."

Not to mention Ludo. "Smell baaad!"