Cinema of Sorcery #7 - Labyrinth (1986)
Where Everything Seems Possible And Nothing Is What It Seems.
This movie was created with evident care and meticulous attention to detail. The craft of the film is a true wonder, but it can’t make up for the dull story.
Labyrinth opens with Jennifer Connelly’s fantasy-obsessed Sarah as she reenacts a scene from a book called The Labyrinth. This causes her to lose track of time and arrives late at her home, where her stepmother has an outrageous demand: to babysit her infant brother Toby. This, along with an invasion of her privacy via a missing teddy, sends Sarah spiraling into a temper where she wishes goblins would take her brother away. Enter David Bowie’s crotch-tastic Goblin King Jareth to fulfill her wish despite protests she didn’t mean it. This is the inciting incident for the adventure through the immense titular labyrinth, where she’ll find help and hindrances from director Jim Henson’s inventive Muppet creatures.
These creatures are a magnificent showcase of Henson’s craftsmanship and the puppetry skills of his fellow artists. Henson, as director, creates perfect sequences that allow us to appreciate all the crafts on display. However, that is detrimental to the story of this movie.
The narrative devolves into a series of incidents that happen to Sarah in the same style as the Pinocchio story. Without a strong plot line, her agency is taken away from her. I also feel that as the main character, she should be the one to discover the strength of friendship, trust, and sacrifice, but it is her secondary friends, especially Hoggle, that are the ones to learn these lessons.
Speaking of Hoggle…
As impressive as the animatronic head is, it’s the Henson element that most distracted me as an audience member. Shari Weiser, who does the body performance for Hoggle, has an excellent natural performance that is significantly diminished by the uncanny valley face. Hoggle is given a lot of emotional weight in this film, and I kept wanting a human face to express the complexities of the character.
The other Muppets worked incredibly well and still hold up to modern scrutiny. I was particularly fond of the giant creature Ludo, voiced and puppeted by Ron Mueck with some puppetry help from David Barclay. This character is an impressive feat and a delight to watch. He can call rocks to his aid; what’s not to love?
Connelly is very young here, and her performance becomes cringingly overbearing quickly, but I give it a pass because she was fourteen, and who among us wasn’t a bit cringe at that age. Bowie is having a blast, and I couldn’t help but have a blast alongside him when he was on. Side note: I remember him in a codpiece from watching this as a kid, but no, he gives us full moose-knuckle glory. He’s giving vampire horse jockey Tina Turner, and I’m very here for it. While not near his best vocals, I enjoyed his songs, though the story could have easily been done without them, except for Magic Dance, which is required.
Speaking of songs, the score of this film is a fun one! Trevor Jones, who did the phenomenal score of Cinema of Sorcery #1 subject Excalibur, gives us some quintessential 80s soundtrack with synth-packed tracks like Into the Labyrinth and The Goblin Battle. I will be bumping those tracks constantly now. Though they aren’t as complex or epic as Excalibur, the music is perfect for this film and captures the spirit Henson was going for.
The finale is another testament to the stunning design from Henson and collaborator Brian Froud. They create a dazzling M.C. Escher-inspired setpiece where up is down and left is up. It’s an impressive conclusion that made me want more of that cleverness throughout the film.
I can see how this movie has developed a cult following, but I think you have to have rose-tinted nostalgia glasses on to truly love this, which I’m too busy using for the Star Wars prequels.
Labyrinth is, unfortunately, off of Netflix now, but you can rent it from digital retailers, and I’m sure you could find a copy at your local library.
Thanks for the wait for me to get this out. If you have thoughts on Labyrinth, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Next Wednesday will be a Channel Surfing post on Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 1998 film After Life.
As always, thanks for your time and inbox space. I appreciate it. Til next time!
- Colton