Sixteen-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) is given thirteen hours to solve a labyrinth and rescue her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud) when her wish for him to be taken away is granted by the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie).
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and so restore order to his world.
When Captain James Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Robin Williams,
Julia Roberts
Returns to the world of Thra, where three Gelfling discover the horrifying secret behind the Skeksis' power, and set out to ignite the fires of rebellion and save their world.
Stars:
Neil Sterenberg,
Beccy Henderson,
Nathalie Emmanuel
Dorothy Gale is swept away from a farm in Kansas to a magical land of Oz in a tornado and embarks on a quest with her new friends to see the Wizard who can help her return home to Kansas and help her friends as well.
Teenager Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) is forced by her father (Christopher Malcolm) and her stepmother (Shelley Thompson) to babysit her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud) while they are outside home. Toby does not stop crying and Sarah wishes that her stepbrother be taken by the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie). Out of the blue, Toby stops crying and when Sarah looks for him in the cradle, she learns that her wish was granted and the Goblin King Jareth has taken him to his castle in the Goblin City in the middle of a labyrinth. Sarah repents and asks Jareth to give Toby back; but the Goblin King tells her 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 (Brian Henson), the beast Ludo (Ron Mueck), and the knight Didymus (David Shaughnessy) and his dog Ambrosius (Percy Edwards) in her journey. Will they rescue Toby in time?Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The talking hat had a much larger role. There was an excised scene in a bar where the hat babbled incessantly to the patrons. In the movie, the hat appears briefly. See more »
Goofs
In one shot during "Chilly Down", a Firey's hand becomes transparent. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Sarah:
Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great...
[thunder rumbles]
Sarah:
For my will is as strong as yours, my kingdom as great... Damn.
[pulls the Labyrinth book out of her pocket]
Sarah:
I can never remember that line.
[reads]
Sarah:
You have no power over me.
See more »
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.
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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.