| Labyrinth | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Jim Henson |
| Produced by | Eric Rattray David Lazer George Lucas |
| Screenplay by | Terry Jones |
| Story by | Dennis Lee Jim Henson |
| Starring | David Bowie Jennifer Connelly Toby Froud |
| Music by | David Bowie (Songs) Trevor Jones (Score) |
| Cinematography | Alex Thomson |
| Editing by | John Grover |
| Studio | Henson Associates Lucasfilm |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 27, 1986 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $12,729,917 |
Labyrinth is a 1986 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed by Brian Froud. Henson collaborated on the screenwriting with children's author Dennis Lee, Terry Jones from Monty Python, and Elaine May (although only Jones received screen credit).
The film stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah Williams. The plot revolves around Sarah's quest to find the way through an enormous otherworldly maze so that she can rescue her little brother, Toby, from Jareth. Most of the other significant roles are played by puppets or by a combination of puppetry and human performance. It was shot on location in New York and at Elstree Studios and Hampstead Heath in the UK. It was the last feature film directed by Henson before his death in 1990.
Contents |
The film opens with a scene of 15-year-old Sarah Williams rehearsing lines from a book called Labyrinth in a park. While trying to remember her final line in the book, the clock tower across the streets chimes and she realizes that she has lost track of time. She runs home to find her stepmother, Irene, waiting for her. They fight, and Irene leaves with Sarah's father on a date. Sarah is left home to babysit her baby half-brother, Toby.
Sarah realizes that her treasured teddy bear, Lancelot, is missing from her room. Storming into Toby's room, she finds Lancelot and yells at Toby, who then begins to cry. Sarah begins rehearsing more lines from Labyrinth, telling the story of a maiden granted special powers by the King of Goblins. According to the story, the girl could no longer stand the baby's cries and wishes for goblins to take away her screaming baby brother. As she ends the story and turns off the light, she remarks, "I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now!" Toby suddenly stops crying. Worried, Sarah re-enters his room to find that he has vanished. A barn owl flies through the open bedroom window and transforms into Jareth, King of Goblins. He tells her that he has taken the baby as she wished. Realizing what she has done, Sarah begs for the return of her brother. Jareth tells her that if she can solve his great maze, known as the Labyrinth, within thirteen hours, she can have Toby back. If she cannot, he will turn Toby into a goblin and keep him forever.
The pathways and openings in the walls of the Labyrinth change intermittently and are full of logic puzzles and tests. At its entrance, Sarah finds Hoggle, a curmudgeonly dwarf, killing fairies with a fly spray; she bribes him with her plastic jewelry to lead her through the maze. Although he helps Sarah, it is later revealed that he is working for Jareth. Sarah acquires other companions along the way: Sir Didymus, a chivalrous, fox-like knight, and Ludo, a gentle beast she rescues from a horde of Jareth's goblins. As Sarah and her friends venture through the Labyrinth, they encounter the Four Guards, where she must solve a Raymond Smullyan-inspired Knights and Knaves logic puzzle to avoid certain death; the detachable-limbed revelers known as "The Fire Gang", who try to remove Sarah's head; a detour through the Bog of Eternal Stench; a junkyard-like recreation of her own bedroom; and a hallucinogen-induced masquerade ball. There, Jareth attempts to distract her until the thirteenth hour by dancing with her. However, she wakes from this illusion and continues into his castle beyond the goblin city with barely enough time to spare.
The film climaxes in Jareth's multi-dimensional castle, where Sarah participates in a Escher-inspired battle to save Toby. Jereth makes a final appeal for her to abandon her quest and stay with him. She defeats him by reciting her monologue from the beginning of the film, including the final line that had so often eluded her: "You have no power over me!" The room crumbles away, and Sarah finds herself back in her home as the clock strikes midnight and Jareth, in owl form, flies away. Sarah gives Toby her beloved Lancelot, then returns to her room. As Sarah clears her dressing table, she seems confused about whether she has undergone the turning point in her life between childhood and adulthood. Hoggle appears, with Ludo and Sir Didymus, as images in the mirror. They seem to be bidding her goodbye as she leaves behind the fantasies of childhood, but remind her that they will still be available "should you need us." Sarah insists she needs them, and will need them every now and then throughout her life, and they appear in her bedroom. The film closes as Sarah and the creatures celebrate in her room. Outside, the owl watches the party, then flies away.
Goblins performed by Don Austen, Michael Bayliss, Martin Bridle, Fiona Beynor Brown, Simon Buckley, David Bulbeck, Sue Dacre, Geoff Felix, Trevor Freeborn, Christine Glanville, David Greenaway, Brian James, Jan King, Ronnie Le Drew, Terry Lee, Christopher Leith, Kathryn Mullen, Angie Passmore, Michael Petersen, Nigel Plaskitt, Judy Preece, Mike Quinn, Gillie Robic, David Rudman, David Showler, Robin Stevens, Ian Tregonning, Mary Turner, Robert Tygner, Mak Wilson, and Francis Wright
Michael Moschen performed in the film as Jareth's hands and carried out the elaborate crystal-ball contact juggling manipulations.[1]
The soundtrack album includes much of Trevor Jones's score, including "Into the Labyrinth", "Sarah", "Hallucination", "The Goblin Battle", "Thirteen O'Clock", and "Home at Last". "Underground" was released as a single in 1986, including an instrumental version and an extended dance mix.[2]
The following songs were composed and performed by David Bowie in the film. The exception is "Chilly Down", which is performed by the Fieries, a.k.a. The Fire Gang: David Alan Barclay, Karen Prell, Rob Mills and Danny John-Jules.
Bowie admits in the 1986 documentary Inside the Labyrinth that he had to make baby noises during the "Magic Dance" sequence because the baby in the studio would not.
Labyrinth opened at #8 in its opening weekend behind The Karate Kid Part II, Back to School, Legal Eagles, Ruthless People, Running Scared, Top Gun, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[3] By the end of its run, the film would gross only $12,729,917.[4]
The film received mixed reviews from critics.[5] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film averages a 62% positive rating.[6] On Metacritic, which uses a "weighted average" of all the critics' scores, Labyrinth has a 50 of 100.[7]
Roger Ebert gave it only two stars out of four, noting in his review, "I have a problem with almost all nightmare movies: They aren't as suspenseful as they should be because they don't have to follow any logic. Anything can happen, nothing needs to happen, nothing is as it seems and the rules keep changing."[8] Leonard Maltin liked the film a little more, giving the movie 3 stars out of 4 in his Movie Guide and stating, "I couldn't have asked for a more imaginative film." This quote was used on the back of the box for the VHS release.
Labyrinth was nominated for AFI's Top 10 Fantasy Films list.[9]
Labyrinth has become a cult film,[10] and it has been noted that the main audience for the film is now adults rather than children.[11] Bowie himself said that "every Christmas a new flock of children comes up to me and says, 'Oh! you're the one who's in Labyrinth!'"[12]
Since 1997, an annual two-day masquerade ball called the "Labyrinth of Jareth" has been held in Hollywood, CA, where revelers come dressed in costumes inspired by the film.[13][14]
The film was novelized by A.C.H. Smith as Labyrinth: A Novel, which is currently out of print.[15] Marvel Comics produced a three-issue comic book adaptation, which was also printed in a single volume as Marvel Super Special #40.
A video game based on the film was released alongside the film in 1986 for the Commodore 64 and Apple II. Different versions were also released in 1987 in Japan for the Nintendo Famicom and MSX, under the title "Labyrinth: Maou no Meikyuu".
A Muppet Babies episode with a similar plot, and featuring clips from the film, "Nice to Have Gnome You", has Miss Piggy in the role of Sarah.
Archaia Entertainment, in collaboration with The Jim Henson Company, are developing a prequel comic book about the story of how Jareth became the Goblin King. A preview will be released as part of Free Comic Book Day 2012.[16]
Tokyopop, in partnership with The Jim Henson Company, published a manga-style four-volume comic called Return to Labyrinth, written by Jake T. Forbes, illustrated by Chris Lie, with cover art by Kouyu Shurei.[17] It tells the story of Toby, the baby brother in the film, when he has reached the age of 15.[18]
The first volume was released August 8, 2006, the second followed October 9, 2007, and the third May 1, 2009. In an afterword, editor Tim Beedle announced that the series, originally planned as a trilogy, was being extended to include a fourth volume; this fourth volume was released August 3, 2010.
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||