Friday, 10 June 2016

(1986) Labyrinth

Labyrinth is a 1986 British-American adventure musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, executive produced by George Lucas, and based upon conceptual designs by Brian Froud. The film revolves around 16-year-old Sarah's (Jennifer Connelly) quest to reach the center of an enormous otherworldly maze to rescue her infant brother Toby, who has been kidnapped by Jareth, the Goblin King (David Bowie). With the exception of Bowie and Connelly, most of the significant characters in the film are played by puppets produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Williams rehearses a play in the park with her dog Merlin and becomes distracted by a line she is unable to remember while being watched by a barn owl. Realizing she is late to babysit her baby brother Toby, she rushes home and is confronted by her stepmother Irene before she and her father Robert leave for dinner. Sarah realizes that Toby is in possession of her treasured teddy bear Lancelot. Frustrated by this and his constant crying, Sarah rashly wishes Toby be taken away by the Goblin King Jareth, a character in the play she is rehearsing. She is shocked when Toby disappears and the Goblin King confronts her and transports her to his kingdom. He refuses to return the baby, but gives Sarah thirteen hours to solve his Labyrinth and find him before Toby is turned into a goblin. Sarah meets the dwarvish Hoggle, who aids her in entering the Labyrinth, but a talking worm inadvertently sends her in the wrong direction.

Sarah ends up in an oubliette where she reunites with Hoggle. After they confront Jareth and escape one of his traps, the two encounter a large beast named Ludo. Hoggle flees while Sarah befriends Ludo. After another riddle, she loses him in a forest. Hoggle encounters Jareth, who gives him a peach and instructs him to give it to Sarah, calling his loyalty into question as he was supposed to lead her out of the maze. Sarah is assaulted by a group of creatures with detachable body parts who try to remove her head, but Hoggle comes to her aid. She kisses him, and Jareth magically sends them to the Bog of Eternal Stench as punishment, where they reunite with Ludo. Sarah, Hoggle, and Ludo meet the guard of a bridge out of the swamp named Sir Didymus, an anthropomorphic fox and his Old English Sheepdog steed named Ambrosius (who bears a resemblance to Merlin). After Ludo saves Sarah from falling into the swamp, Didymus joins the group. After the group gets hungry, Hoggle gives Sarah the peach and runs away as it begins to erase her memories. She has a dream where Jareth comes to her at a masquerade ball, proclaiming his love for her, but she resists and escapes, falling into a junkyard. After an old hag named Junk Lady fails to brainwash her and her memory is jogged, she is rescued by the others, and they are right outside Goblin City near Jareth's castle. Confronted by the gate guard, Hoggle comes to the rescue. Despite his feeling unworthy of forgiveness, Sarah and the others welcome him back, and they enter the city together.

Jareth is alerted to their presence and sends his goblin army to stop them, but Ludo's powers to summon rocks helps to turn the tide of the comical battle, and they enter the castle. Sarah insists she must face Jareth alone and promises to call the others if needed. In a room modeled after an Escher staircase, she confronts Jareth while trying to retrieve Toby. She tries to recite the line from her play, that has told her adventure to that point, but cannot remember the last line. As Jareth begs her to obey him and he will love her, she remembers the line, "You have no power over me!" Defeated at the last second, Jareth returns Sarah and Toby to the real world safely.

Realizing how important Toby is to her, she gives him Lancelot and returns to her room. While there, she sees her friends in the mirror and realizes even though she is growing up, she still needs them in her life every now and again. In an instant, all of the major characters from the Labyrinth appear in her room for a raucous celebration, while Jareth in his owl form watches from outside and then flies away into the night.

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