Jim Henson's Labyrinth

A-Bomb and I try and have a classic movie night at least once a week. When we started doing this, we did not have guidelines. I'd say we made it all the way to week #2 when we posed the question, "What's Classic?" We concurred that 25 years from the year we are occupying should be considered classic. That puts anything released in 1986 as classic to us. When researching 1986 movies, I realized how great of a year that actually was for film. Right in the middle of the year, The Labyrinth was released. Jim Henson's Labyrinth to be more accurate. Jim Henson - famous for creating The Muppets had a crazy imagination. Labyrinth is most definitely a movie that if you grew up with, as I did, it's awesome. If you didn't see it until adulthood, you would probably take the perspective of "The dumbest movie ever." Unless you viewed it on drugs, then you would probably say in an extremely lackadaisical voice - "Whooooooooaa." It starts off with Sarah (Jennifer B to B) (Watch Requiem for a Dream to get that reference), unable to enjoy her Friday night, because she has to babysit her toddler brother Toby. She is more than unhappy with the situation so she chants a chant for The Goblin King to come and take him away. Then Poof - he's gone. To say she is freaked out is an understatement. Goblin King, Really? Kidnapper in drag more like it. He takes Toby and feels Toby now belongs to him. She made a verbal contract. She then enters The Labyrinth where Jareth the Goblin King is...well, King. Played to perfection by David Bowie, I don't know of anyone else that flamboyantly straight that could've pulled that off in 1986. Maybe Danny Glover, but probably not. Sarah must complete the maze in due time in order to not lose her Brother forever. The cast of characters and sets that she encounters are magnificent. Hoggle helps guide her to a point, but he is kind of a punk. Then there's Ludo. A big hairy sweetheart tat looked like a Wookie and Ton-ton had a baby. He is a big baby, but strong, so he comes in handy. There are lots of obstacles she faces on her journey, but none so fierce as The King himself. The set pieces are awesome. David Bowie resemblance is hidden is=n several scenes, and I only noticed a couple of them for the first time the last time I watched it, which was like 8 months ago. This movie is so mind blowingly good, I just wished it was on the "Required viewing" list at school. Let me do a report on that. As an adult, there are several aspects of this film that are creepy as Hell, but I guess the ignorance of children helps keep this cult classic going strong. My kids will watch it when old enough, I will be right there next to them, and my Wife will be nowhere to be found, because her parents did her a disservice as a child, by not introducing her to anything cool. Way to go R and K.

NBM rates Jim Henson's Labyrinth - Phenomenal

Buy It!!