Fairy tales are measured upon a sense of humor too sophisticated for its core audience but just self-reverential enough to entertain adults. Although "The Dark Crystal" takes itself perhaps just a bit too seriously for its own good, it doesn't affect the overall quality of the film. Directors Jim Henson and Frank Oz have exhaustingly combined their resources to result in one of the most visually remarkable landscapes, puppetry or otherwise, to have ever graced the wonders of the celluloid strip.
The film follows the misadventures of a heroic fawn-like character named Jen, a "gelfling" raised by the righteous Mystics during a time of darkness. Indeed as the film begins Jen is advised by his shaman-like surrogate father to retrieve the crystal shard to restore a sense of good to the universe. Unfortunately his efforts are blocked by the evil ostrich-like Skepsiks, slovenly overgrown dodos in opulent dress which remind us of the surreal vision behind Henson's imagination. With the help of a senile old lady witch-doctor who looks inspired more by the drawings of Gerald Scarfe than by the cutesiness of Henson's Muppets, Jen embarks upon a tale told a thousand times before but hardly with as much visual panache as attained here.
As the movie progresses, we are introduced to even more ornate caricatures. Of course there are the enchanting female gelfling Kira and her small Toto-like pet (inevitable reminders of "The Wizard of Oz"), a creature resembling a carnivorous plant whose digestive stomach lies embedded in the ground (one of the most wonderful effects I've ever encountered in cinema), and a bunch of beetle-like captors whose appearance in the film continues the comparison to "The Wizard of Oz" in their purposeful similarities to the flying monkeys.
Although the film cannot attain its sense of magic throughout (the ending seems perfunctory), "The Dark Crystal" nevertheless takes the casual movie-watcher to a plane so dimensionalized that it is almost a shame that latter-day movies have replaced this tangible feel with a more automated digital computerization. The film came out in 1982, and bombed badly...this is too bad, because it really is the most evident relic of Henson's bygone genius. Of course one can't blame the film, but we can blame the filmgoers of that year. This was the same year which brought us the feel-good sentiments of "E.T." and "Tootsie". Spurned were the likes of this movie, "Blade Runner" and "Pink Floyd: The Wall". The bond which links all of these films is their darkness, one which exposes the shadowy side of man's nature (or Nature in general) in an almost delicate manner. Although "The Dark Crystal" does not possess the poetic somnambulance of another overlooked children's film with dark undertones, "Babe: Pig in the City", this film would mark an extraordinary opportunity to try something new when bored by the generic harmonics of such recent Disney fare as "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".
The film follows the misadventures of a heroic fawn-like character named Jen, a "gelfling" raised by the righteous Mystics during a time of darkness. Indeed as the film begins Jen is advised by his shaman-like surrogate father to retrieve the crystal shard to restore a sense of good to the universe. Unfortunately his efforts are blocked by the evil ostrich-like Skepsiks, slovenly overgrown dodos in opulent dress which remind us of the surreal vision behind Henson's imagination. With the help of a senile old lady witch-doctor who looks inspired more by the drawings of Gerald Scarfe than by the cutesiness of Henson's Muppets, Jen embarks upon a tale told a thousand times before but hardly with as much visual panache as attained here.
As the movie progresses, we are introduced to even more ornate caricatures. Of course there are the enchanting female gelfling Kira and her small Toto-like pet (inevitable reminders of "The Wizard of Oz"), a creature resembling a carnivorous plant whose digestive stomach lies embedded in the ground (one of the most wonderful effects I've ever encountered in cinema), and a bunch of beetle-like captors whose appearance in the film continues the comparison to "The Wizard of Oz" in their purposeful similarities to the flying monkeys.
Although the film cannot attain its sense of magic throughout (the ending seems perfunctory), "The Dark Crystal" nevertheless takes the casual movie-watcher to a plane so dimensionalized that it is almost a shame that latter-day movies have replaced this tangible feel with a more automated digital computerization. The film came out in 1982, and bombed badly...this is too bad, because it really is the most evident relic of Henson's bygone genius. Of course one can't blame the film, but we can blame the filmgoers of that year. This was the same year which brought us the feel-good sentiments of "E.T." and "Tootsie". Spurned were the likes of this movie, "Blade Runner" and "Pink Floyd: The Wall". The bond which links all of these films is their darkness, one which exposes the shadowy side of man's nature (or Nature in general) in an almost delicate manner. Although "The Dark Crystal" does not possess the poetic somnambulance of another overlooked children's film with dark undertones, "Babe: Pig in the City", this film would mark an extraordinary opportunity to try something new when bored by the generic harmonics of such recent Disney fare as "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".