So. Uh. #wenchwatches #labyrinth I guess?
I have seen this exactly once before, but I don't remember much from it. I think I lost interest in the second half.
Real talk: I'm not a fantasy person, nor am I someone who likes musicals. And I hate to say it, Bowie doesn't do much for me. It helps little that this film was extraordinarily popular with the cis-girls in high school. All of that combined left me feeling quietly, closet-ly, isolated.
That probably explains why I didn't get around to it until much, much later.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
I won't watch this film for Bowie.
But I will for Henson.
Wow, Sarah is kinda a jerk. The kind of jerk that a teenager would likely be in this situation, but it's hard to frustrated that this is our protagonist.
THANKFULLY THERE ARE GOBLIN PUPPETS.
Even in the few seconds they're on screen so far, the difference is night and day compared to Dark Crystal. Shot four years later, the quality of puppet work for the silver screen is a step up. Henson really figured out how to make it work.
THAT'S DOCTOR WORM, YOU [angry grumbling]
And there's the first musical number.
Here's the thing about musicals and me, they feel *really* artificial to me. And Labyrinth is no different here. "Dance Magic Dance" tends to just...start. There's no sense of motivation behind it, and the lack of a framing device -- despite genre convention -- really bothers me.
Even so, you can see Bowie's showmanship throughout the performance.
....well. I didn't assume racial stereotyping in this, but there it is. The bird hat is doing call backs to Loony Toons and lightly invoking Mexican stereotypes.
The diminutive warriors torturing Ludo are Japanese stereotypes. It was easy to miss, but with the subtitles on it comes through.
Dammit, Henson, I thought you were better than that.
Hoggle's very bad, no good, unfun day.
I'm...getting similar feelings from the Wild Gang sequence. I feel a stereotype is being invoked exactly, but I feel I've seen this sort of depiction before.
One thing that I keep having a problem with throughout this film is, "who is this for?"
The presence of swear words throughout the film suggests a movie meant for an older audience. Yet, some of the humor and musical numbers feel paradoxically targeted at younger people. The entire Bog of Eternal Stench sequence is fun, but often an older audience demands more than just farting to be hilarious. Granted, the antics of Hoggle and Dir Didymus actually make up for it.
Was this meant for tweens? Is that it?
@socketwench - I remember when Dark Crystal came out, it was meant to be "puppetries big break" in movies, so that it would be taken seriously. It still ended up being a kids movie.
I think Labyrinth is another attempt at that, but they aimed a little lower. Instead of trying to be a high art piece, they aimed at adults and kids to make a mainstream fantasy movie, and it failed to make it big when neither audience was really into it.
I don't remember Labyrinth being popular until it came out on home video.
