One of my all time favorite movies from when I was younger and still is a top five favorite is
Labyrinth. I can remember going to my cousins house and watching it on the taped from TV version that she had. We would watch it over and over and over again. It was amazing.
If you're not familiar with the story of
Labyrinth there is this spoiled girl, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly,)and she's being a jerk to her baby brother. She ends up getting so pissed off at him she asks the Goblin King, Jareth (David Bowie), to take him away. Well obviously she regrets that immediately and then has to go through the labyrinth to get to the Goblin city and the castle to get him back. There are fun songs along the way, crazy characters and lots of padded crotch costumes worn by David Bowie. It's a pretty amazing movie.
Until I got older one thing that I didn't appreciate about Labyrinth was the fact that all of the goblin and fantasy characters were made and operated by Jim Henson and his amazing puppeteers. Yup Jim Henson! You'd never have guessed it right. Labyrinth is definitely one of Henson's darker movies, along with earlier film The Dark Crystal, another fantasy movie but with all puppets. Being an adult I can definitely appreciate the amazing talent and time it took to produce such movies with so many puppets.
When Labyrinth was first released it was somewhat of a bomb only grossing about $12 million (it took $25 million to make it) and received terrible reviews from critics, who said things like the plot didn't come to life or the movie was just visually ugly. I beg to differ about the first one but I agree with the second critic, pretty sure it's not supposed to be pretty though! Amazingly enough it has developed a kind of cult following since it's release. I know anyone and pretty much everyone my age seems to love the movie and have really fond memories of it. You see pins about it on Pinterest, Buzzfeed articles and so many other
The
Labyrinth soundtrack is one of my favorite parts of the entire thing. It has really neat original songs and some pretty fabulous David Bowie dance numbers.
Be sure to watch "Chilly Down" all the way through there is some crazy puppet action that happens!
To celebrate my Friday Free For All mentality here are some of my favorite and probably some of these are the more ridiculous things I've seen relating to Labyrinth.
2 of my fave songs from the movie. Magic Dance and Chilly Down. Love love love the movie so much I have it on DVD. it never gets old. I love watching movies that never get old.
ReplyDeleteBahaha, I love that last picture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the critics on the second comment too, but that's what makes it the fantasy it's supposed to be!!
<3
Harlynn
mindyourmadness.blogspot.com
Exactly! I never listen to the critics even now. If I watch the preview and know the plot and it seems interesting to me than I'm gonna watch it!
DeleteI was raised on Labyrinth and continue to love it. It's also an awesome allegory for growing up, setting aside childish things, understanding consequences, etc. Sarah takes THE hero's journey. And the ballroom scene alone...I catch something new every time I watch it (seriously, I recommend watching that scene and catching things like: references to other scenes in the movie, items from Sarah's bedroom, sexual innuendo/mocking her naivety, etc). :D
ReplyDeleteYES! Love this movie and this post! I was so mesmerized by this movie when I was little. I watched it as an adult a few years ago and couldn't get over how many gross crotch shots there were of David Bowie. But that "Dance, magic dance" song will always be one my brother, sister, and I sing at the tops of our lungs when we see each other:)
ReplyDelete