Labyrinth
| Year: | 1986 |
| Production Co: | Delphi V Productions |
| Director: | Jim Henson |
| Writer: | Jim Henson/Terry Jones |
| Cast: | Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie |
Was the reason I loved this movie so much because I fell madly in love with a much younger, far more buxom and so classically beautiful Jennifer Connelly? Quite possibly.
With the creative might of Jim Henson behind it, Labyrinth was everything The Dark Crystal nearly was, combining live action with the most advanced puppetry, marionette and animatronic technology of the day as young Sarah (the delicious and ravishing Connelly) is bored babysitting her baby brother and dreams instead of a fantasy world of goblins and witches, dangers and romance.
When she wishes a little too hard, the goblin king Jareth (Bowie) obliges, kidnapping her brother and setting Sarah on a quest to rescue him if she can reach Jareth's castle through a massive labyrinth that runs through his kingdom.
Nowadays it would all be done in CGI and would lose all the love and soul Henson was so careful to put into his characters - from their design to the way they interact with the then-16 year old protagonist.
I always believed Jareth was secretly in love with Sarah. He tells her guide Hoggle that if she kisses him he'll be cast into the Bog of Eternal Stench. He also engineers the dream sequence where he dances with her at the ornate ball. The sight of her in that scene almost stopped my heart.
Connelly disappeared for years and then started collecting kudos in work like A Beautiful Mind and Hulk until reaching the confirmed status of the A list with more recent movies like Blood Diamond and Requiem For a Dream. She's still a great actress but too skinny.
With the creative might of Jim Henson behind it, Labyrinth was everything The Dark Crystal nearly was, combining live action with the most advanced puppetry, marionette and animatronic technology of the day as young Sarah (the delicious and ravishing Connelly) is bored babysitting her baby brother and dreams instead of a fantasy world of goblins and witches, dangers and romance.
When she wishes a little too hard, the goblin king Jareth (Bowie) obliges, kidnapping her brother and setting Sarah on a quest to rescue him if she can reach Jareth's castle through a massive labyrinth that runs through his kingdom.
Nowadays it would all be done in CGI and would lose all the love and soul Henson was so careful to put into his characters - from their design to the way they interact with the then-16 year old protagonist.
I always believed Jareth was secretly in love with Sarah. He tells her guide Hoggle that if she kisses him he'll be cast into the Bog of Eternal Stench. He also engineers the dream sequence where he dances with her at the ornate ball. The sight of her in that scene almost stopped my heart.
Connelly disappeared for years and then started collecting kudos in work like A Beautiful Mind and Hulk until reaching the confirmed status of the A list with more recent movies like Blood Diamond and Requiem For a Dream. She's still a great actress but too skinny.