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Labyrinth by Jim Henson
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Christopher Malcolm, David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Shelley Thompson, Toby Froud Director: Jim Henson Brand: Sony Writer: Jim Henson Producer: David Lazer Producer: Eric Rattray Producer: George Lucas Producer: Martin G. Baker Writer: Dennis Lee Writer: Terry Jones DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1 Running Time: 101 minutes DVD Release Date: 1999-10-05 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of LabyrinthMovie Review: Escape to the Realm of Imagination Summary: 5 Stars
Nearly twenty years complete with a computer-effects "revolution" in film have passed since Jim Henson's Labyrinth hit theatres, but no visual advancements could ever capture the charisma of this pop rock fairy tale. Henson's Creature Shop not only designed a spectacular fantasy world born from the depths of every child's imagination, they put it together completely with practical effects and the magic of puppetry. If you're looking for the pleasantly simple shapes and colors of The Muppets, you won't find them here; Labyrinth's puppets blend seamlessly into the background in order to make this universe spring to life.
The story begins in a charming East Coast-esque neighborhood park where a teenage girl dressed in a ball room gown performs a soliloquy to no audience other than her dog. The town clock chimes and it begins to pour; Sarah (Academy Award-winner Jennifer Connelly as a teen) pulls out of her reverie, a princess no more, and realizes that she has stayed out too long. At home, she confronts her "wicked" stepmother who has been waiting for Sarah to return in order to watch her new baby brother, Toby, while her father and stepmother spend the night out. Although it's never stated, it's clear from the way in which Sarah admires the portrait of her mother on her bedroom mirror that her mother, an actress in a play called The Labyrinth, has passed away and that is the reason that Sarah loves the play with such devotion. The way in which she derides her half-brother, angry that he has played with one of her own childhood stuffed animals and annoyed with his fits of crying, demonstrates very quickly the tension between the newly formed family and Sarah's resistance to the life that she has had to face since her mother's death. When Sarah repeats the lines of her favorite play, calling forth a "Goblin King" to kidnap Toby and free her of his annoyances, she doesn't imagine that her own improvised echo of "I wish that the goblins would come and take you away... right now," would in fact be magic words that bring forth a Goblin King, Jareth (British rock star David Bowie). Jareth takes Toby and offers Sarah a life of fantasy, liberated from harsh reality. But Sarah, feeling guilty, asks for Toby back instead; however, Jareth refuses, and in order to free Toby from Jareth's control, Sarah must make her way through the trials of a mystical labyrinth within thirteen hours.
Sarah's choice to face the labyrinth and the lessons she learns thanks to the friends she meets along the way help the introverted teen to mature and realize that even when surrounded by a life of the fantastic, she can never escape completely from reality. This basic journey mirrors the mythic quest archetype of many legends and stories, but the change in the expected protagonist to that of a young girl and the mix of contemporary and fantasy settings offers something to the genre that hasn't quite been seen before or since. Bowie composed most of the songs in the film, which range from the fun and effervescent "Dance Magic Dance" to his character's poignant take on unrequited love in "As the World Falls Down" and "Within You." The title track ("Underground") especially will stay with you, even long after you've last watched the film.
Summary of LabyrinthRelive the magic. This newly restored, 2-disc anniversary edition of Jim Henson's Labyrinth contains an all-new commentary and bonus features that are guaranteed to captivate as never before. David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly invite you into a magical universe where nothing is what it seems. Babysitting infant stepbrother Toby on a weekend night isn't young Sarah's (Connelly) idea of fun. Frustrated by his crying, she secretly imagines the Goblins from her favorite book, Labyrinth, carrying Toby away. When her fantasy comes true, a distraught Sarah must enter a maze of illusion to bring Toby back from a kingdom inhabited by mystical creatures and governed by the wicked Goblin King (Bowie).
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