Review of Labyrinth (2002) by Patricia W — 21 Nov 2017

The Labyrinth is a children's fantasy story and the last feature film to be directed by Jim Henson. Sarah is left babysitting her little brother, resenting him, she wishes for him to be taken away. When Jareth, the Goblin king takes him she instantly regrets it and has 13 hours to get through the labyrinth and get her baby brother back.

First of all, David Bowie is surprisingly good as Jareth, with quite a hypnotic air to him and of course the musical numbers he wrote and performed are very catchy and feed well into the plot. However Jennifer Connelly's performance as Sarah is a little weak and seems to have been given a lot less attention than the puppets. The voices of the puppets are also well performed and add a lot of humour to the film.

Of course, you can't review a Jim Henson film without talking about the puppets and as always the puppets are excellent in this production. There are a huge variety of puppets, some huge, some bizarre, some with very well articulated faces and all incredibly intricate and well puppeteered which adds to the sense of wonder and fantasy of the film. The sets, props, costumes and live action effects such as Jareth's ball spinning trick are all excellent as well.

The only parts of the film that don't hold up so well are the scenes with the fire gang, which look like very poor green screen work and some scenes of Sarah floating through space. The relationship between Sarah and Jareth is also a little odd and gets dangerously close to being inappropriate as we see Sarah's confusion and desire to grow up, particularly in the ballroom scene.

Overall, this is an enjoyable kids film that has the wonderfully imaginative and heart warming centre that Jim Henson was known and loved for.