The first episode of a semi-regular feature now where I go back and re-watch things from my childhood and growing up and see how as an adult things have aged. Today comes from my little girl Sara who kindly lent us her DVD for a couple of days Jim Hensons' Labyrinth. For those who've never seen it the story is about a teenage girl called Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) who in quoting a line from her favourite play causes her baby brother Toby to be abducted on behalf of the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) and to win him back she must find her way through a large mazey type thing to his castle and confront Jareth to win him back. On the way plenty of peril and wacky Jim Henson characters.
I can't remember the first time I'd seen it, I'll assume it was on TV in around '87/'88 the first time and again when I was 13 for the Saturday matinee (miss the days when going to the cinema would cost just £1) with an ex-girlfriend though I'm sure I saw it between those two dates I'm sure I've not seen it since but I remember it as an old fashioned fairy story with some creepy moments and wierd and wonderful characters, but what do I see now?
Well for a start the soundtrack is still as good as I remembered it with some great songs (Magic Dance for Rock Band please?) though the score elements are very 80's with lots of big synth chords which could be very in your face but it's the songs which you'll remember from this sort of film anyway. Visually there was only one scene that especially looked dated and wrong. At some stage Sarah encounters "The Fireys" flame coloured creatures who had the ability to remove body parts willy-nilly and essentially were there to sing the song "Chilly Down" but due to the difficult nature of getting the effect of removing limbs to work it was filmed on a black screen and then refilmed with a backdrop but no puppets and merged via computermabob. An ambitious scene which looked off now, obviously understandable but only time I thought it looked "wrong".
Performances were fine, Jennifer Connelly (shocked to find only 14 at the time) was fine in the main role and carried the film well. Essentially she had to work on her own most of the time (thankfully it's the 80's and Henson. Now next to none of it would be practically done) and she did a good job for what it's worth. Opposite her Bowie didn't do too much bar the songs and I think Jareth is played in a campy villainous manner but it all works reasonably well. Something I noticed more now was the sexual tension between the two (part of this because of Bowies' tights and rather noticeable trouser snake (hypnotic)) which would've had another twist had they gone with the proposed Michael Jackson in the role! That said Jennifer was the wrong gender and too old for him (too soon?). The real stars though were the puppets, "Hoggle" was essentially the second lead and was superbly done and of course there's the typically individual looks of each other character.
In the end I still enjoyed it. The sense of menace wasn't the same and on DVD it felt brighter than I remember it being but it still did the job. Some of the childish perils ("The bog of eternal stench") were typically Henson, Python (screenplay written by Terry Jones) and certainly would still appeal to children. The songs were enjoyable, the characters memorable (Sir Didymus, the fox-terrier knight riding his english sheepdog steed Ambrosius still makes me laugh) and I'm glad it was made when it was and by the right people. Now, Labyrinth would be a highly CGI charged affair which would take away most of it's charm, nothing would've felt the same as all the practical stunts used in this and the interaction with the puppets would feel, almost flat. To me, watched with a family I can see this still has it and I hope that families will continue to enjoy it. Future Jr Lankys will certainly grow up learning to fear the "eternal stench" and look in terror at Barn Owls for generations!
