Labyrinth (1986)

I've been feeling quite nostalgic lately and I don't know why. So I chose something I used to watch on a semi-regular basis. Labyrinth is a movie that I remember being on TV all the time when I was a kid. I think I mainly watched it because of David Bowie and his too-cool-for-school eye makeup, that I may or may not have tried to recreate.

Labyrinth is all about Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), a young girl struggling with the responsibilities that come with growing up. One day whilst babysitting her younger brother Tobey, she wishes that the goblins would take him away. And then they do (I'm not sure why she's so surprised by this, I wish goblins would take my little sister away, sigh). Tobey is taken by the incredibly camp goblin king Jared (David Bowie) and held hostage in his castle at the centre of the labyrinth. To rescue him, Sarah must conquer the labyrinth with the help of new friends along the way.

I'm quite fond of a good cult movie, especially one with puppets, musical numbers and some sort of fantasy theme. Jim Henson has an amazing imagination and the detail of this all is absolutely mind-blowing. There are some wicked visuals here, the setting in this fantasy medieval world that you fall in love with.

I guess the best thing about Labyrinth is David Bowie, I mean he IS this movie and it's probably why most people watch it. And he helped with the music, which is a tad lame but still cool enough to be mentioned.

Anyway, I'm sure that at the time the filming techniques used were totally cutting-edge in 1986 but they have dated and look really tacky. You can only laugh at the terrible costumes in the ballroom scene (I don't think I've ever seen that much taffeta, except maybe my parents wedding album). And the acting, I know puppets don't have full facial control, but that's no excuse for the humans in this movie (I'm looking at you, David Bowie). But all this cheesiness makes it loveable, in a childish way. You don't watch Labyrinth expecting it to be on the same level as something by, I don't know, let's say Stanley Kubrick. You're watching it to be entertained, which it does do in its own weird way. It's one of those movies you watch and say 'they don't make 'em like they used to'.

And that's about all I have to say for now. I suppose I'll be here same time, same place tomorrow.