Homework: Labyrinth (1986)

[nickperkins 52]

Available for digital rental, or most assuredly at your local library. I seriously can't wait to revisit this one.

[phred2321 57]

I think this movie is super overrated, maybe because I didn't see it until I was an adult (just a few months ago actually)

[SiSquires-Kasten 37]

I'm also a pretty firm No. Love David Bowie, love Henson, love "Magic Dance" but this movie's a mess.

[HoldenMartinson 221]

You know, I hate to be someone who digs in their heels before there's a discussion to be had, but I'm a hard, hard, HARD no. I find this movie to be incredibly irritating. For whatever reason, Labyrinth has always rubbed me the wrong way. I like Jennifer Connelly. I really like David Bowie's 70's output. I have no affection for Labyrinth. It's gonna take something miraculous to sway me.

[ZZZ 63]

This one might actually break my heart. Labyrinth was my favorite movie as a child, I watched it at my friend's house everyday after school, even though it made me cry and gave me horrible nightmares. The creatures in this movie introduced me to a world of fantasy and helped me find my small town weirdos. I've seen this movie way more than was ever intended and, now it's time to take it off the shelf again and possibly read through strangers comments ripping it apart.

[Ryan L 57]

This movie is going to be destroyed like The Goonies was. Nowhere near Bowie's best role or Henson's best film.

[JosephDaley 26]

I absolutely love this weird, perverted, and playful Muppet misadventure. Partly because Jennifer Connelly ushered me into adulthood with feels that I didn't understand, and partly because I wanted to watch David Bowie undress the whole time. This movie was one of my favorite movies growing up, and I've come back on it religiously throughout my life... I'm not sure that I would argue too hard that it belongs in The Canon though.

 

Especially because all of the criticisms that I have of Pennies from Heaven, apply to this one. It's just not a masterwork, except in that it's by one of the most human and important filmmakers in modern history- Jim Henson. I don't know where that leaves my vote honestly.

[chaplinatemyshoe 46]

Just leaving this here.

 

 

[CarlosFerreira 20]

Lots of people getting their criticism in early...

 

I guess I am much more positive about Labyrinth than most people here. I haven't seen the film in the last couple of years, but my overriding memory is one of weirdness and that kind of darkness that permeates the best childrens' stories. My only reference point to compare this is Spirited Away - and I think I liked that significantly less. I'd probably need to watch them back-to-back.

 

I'm curious to see which way this is going to go.

[ThomasMariani 6]

I would theorize a no from my end. As someone who enjoys it and revisited it earlier this year when Bowie passed, it's not a great movie. Probably Henson's sloppiest as a filmmaker. Dark Crystal on the other hand TOTALLY deserves Canonizing. Hell, Great Muppet Caper even deserves Canonizing more than Labyrinth.

[Llewellyn_Wells 47]

it's also playing in Cinemark theatres on 9/11 this year! In case anyone wants to revisit it in the cinema.

[NathanGordon 1096]

The Dark Crystal is obviously the superior Jim Henson Workshop film, although I know that has its detractors as well.

 

Labyrinth doesn't hold up completely, but it's still a wonderful family film that hits that sweet spot of being a little dark and not too saccharine. It tells a relatable story about family tension in a way that felt very modern, sort of a latchkey divorced kid perspective. Plus we have a young girl protagonist who becomes a little more self-reliant and learns to value her family in a positive way, while acknowledging the difficulty. As we talked about with Kiki, these kind of female leading characters are rare.

 

Also one of the only non-Muppets movies to successfully integrate puppets and live actors to such a degree.

 

Lastly, the Goblin King's crotch is surely responsible for arousing the curiosity and imagination of a generation of kids.

 

[giblet.kittensoup 2]

I'll echo some other comments

 

This isn't close to being the best of Henson's Muppet films. If you want fantasy Muppet, The Dark Crystal is far superior. If you want Muppets, then I vote for the first Muppet Movie, (even though the remake was REALLY good).

 

Just NO. I won't even bother listening I'm so NO on this one.

 

Have I said no?

 

maybe you guys should lock these homework threads...

[FelipeSobreiro 54]

This movie features some Grade A 'nuck (someone else here listens to The Greatest Generation...?)

[ZZZ 63]

I feel like people are exaggerating the nostalgia for this movie. You can walk into pretty much any clothing store in America and buy a goonies t-shirt you'll be a lot harder pressed to find one for Labyrinth. Whether or not this is the best Jim Henson movie, the best David Bowie movie is kind of irrelevant to the discussion of this movie which is a fun fantasy film with a female protagonist that plays on the tropes of the damsel and the prince. This is not the discussion thread for the episode but I think you guys are being overly critical of a movie that is very important to a lot of girls.

[Ryan L 57]

 

Can we make this a Jim Henson / George Lucas collaborative versus episode and try to get The Empire Strikes Back into the Canon for the third time??

[NickMazzuca 7]

Just a handy tip for everyone in the greater Philadelphia area: Labyrinth is playing at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute on Thursday, 8/25/16 at 7:15.

 

So, yeah, if you feel like doing your homework for next week's episode in the best possible manner, then go watch this on the big screen.

[JosephDaley 26]

 

Can we make this a Jim Henson / George Lucas collaborative versus episode and try to get The Empire Strikes Back into the Canon for the third time??

 

I'm so for this it's not even funny.

[Threshold 93]

I can't tell who picked this

It's weird enough for both of them to like/dislike it.

I'm erring on the side of Devin- but I could be totally wrong.

 

Also- it's just OK. More bizarre than great.

[Hannah 4]

I saw this as a kid and then later as a teen. Loosely based on the Maurice Sendak story I think, who as a kid was haunted by the story of the Lindbergh baby. What engaged me was that it's kind of particularly dark for a kids movie. As a teen I realized some parts were pretty rough ("c'mon feet") but liked it for um, other reasons. Interestingly, I read an earlier draft of the script once and it skewed way more adult particularly in the Sarah/Goblin King relationship. Apparently David Bowie had them tone it down for being too creepy for him.

 

Great movie!

[NickMazzuca 7]

I just saw it last night on the big screen.

 

Most of the individual elements are great. The production design is fantastic, but the tone is all over the place, the cinematography is uneven, and the effects look highly dated on the big screen. They looked great on 80's CRT televisions, but on the big screen there's some dreadful stuff.

 

Also, Jennifer Connelly... took a while to grow into her acting chops. The film is anchored to a very weak performance.

 

That Goblin masquerade and the Escher dungeon sequence are brilliant, though.

 

My guess is that Amy is going to go soft-yes for ambition and it's odd intersection of genres. Devin's going to go soft-no for how poorly it holds up compared to other, better genre films.

 

Everyone is going hard-yes for Bowie.

[Cronopio 127]

Is it just me, or is there a big tendency toward 1980's movies on this podcast? It seems like more than 25% of the films discussed on the show are from that decade. What does this mean?

[devincf 102]

It means most podcast listeners are in their 20s and 30s and most podcast listeners like to download episodes that are about movies they know and they have an affection for movies from the 80s.

[gene_shallot 79]

It means most podcast listeners are in their 20s and 30s and most podcast listeners like to download episodes that are about movies they know and they have an affection for movies from the 80s.

It's the Stranger Things of podcasts! *ducks*

[Cronopio 127]

It means most podcast listeners are in their 20s and 30s and most podcast listeners like to download episodes that are about movies they know and they have an affection for movies from the 80s.

 

Fair enough. When are we doing Conan the Barbarian?