Lybyrynth

Ah, the movie that brings to life: be careful what you wished for. And someone apparently wished for David Bowie in tight pants.

Sarah, a selfish young girl, gets ticked off with her baby brother, and has the Goblin King take him away. Immediately she regrets this, and so sets out through a supposed labyrinth to get him back... hey, that's not a labyrinth. A labyrinth is one path that's more for contemplative walking than an actual maze... but it does make for a better title. Along the way, she meets a bunch of friends, and if it wasn't for Ludo she wouldn't win. Seriously, there are some large gates that they only get through because Ludo is the big strong one. Without him, she would have been stumped long ago. Then eventually it all comes down to remembering a speech from a play that happens to be the exact words of anti-power she needs... which basically shows this up as an entire dream sequence from the get go.

I have to say... and we are talking nearly thirty years on now... some of those puppets do look a little dated now. Hoggle definitely looks he needs another pass or two to get him working better. Ludo works, but then he's just a large puppet that only has a prosthetic face and a large fur suit. Didymus also works well, being the standard size puppet they are used to working with... but some of those other goblins look rather raw, and the knights on dragon things just look bad. I'm not surprised Toby Froud spends a lot of the movie looking like he'd rather be in another movie.

But the core of the movie is the creepy relationship between David Bowie and a young Jennifer Connelly. And David Bowie's codpiece. And extra arms that can juggle his balls. They've all got their parts to do, but that's all they do, one expression each.

With a grown up brain, this is looking old and I can see the hands behind the puppets... it works more as a nostalgia piece now, with better movies done since.

[END]