Is that spelled right? I can’t tell. The title has a tricky spelling that I’m not used to – it’s not like I use the word in my daily conversations. “Look at this labyrinth of paperwork I need to sift through!” See?
Anyway, this abominable movie, which came out in 1986, is decidedly dated not only in terms of acting and plot, but in terms of special effects. Oh my word – this movie is worth renting if only to see the incredibly amateurish “special” effects.
How bad was this movie – let me count the ways.
1) Jennifer Connolly – before she wow’d us with her understated performance in “A Beautiful Mind” she over-acted her way through the opening ten minutes of this dud of a movie.
2) Before launching into some of the most avant-garde music he ever wrote in his entire career (with Tin Machine), David Bowie obviously wrote the soundtrack for this just for the paycheck. Atrociously bad.
3) Jim Henson – he directed this thing. Bad, Jim. Just BAD. Even worse? George Lucas executive produced it.
4) Green screens were not their friend. In particular, there is a scene when Connolly’s character comes across The Fire Gang (according to Wikipedia) who sing a song which is completely unintelligible, but in addition to that the green screen effect is so bad that all the people have these *huge* black outlines around themselves.
5) Puppetry – has improved greatly since 1986. Sure, the worm was cute at the beginning of the movie, but for the most part the puppets were more distracting than interesting.
6) The DVD is badly synched. The mouths and the sound move at different times. Nice.
I’m gonna stop. To be honest, I could go on and on. But I won’t since this is one of Ace’s most favorite movies of all time.
As I told him, “Xanadu” is one of my favorites of all time, but I know full and well that it’s craptastic. “Labyrinth?” Makes “Xanadu” look like “The Sound of Music.”
See now…that’s just wrong. Labyrinth is a CLASSIC. An AWESOME CLASSIC. I think the issue is simply that you do not understand it’s utter AWESOMENESS.
beths last blog post..Head, Meet Wall
beth – when was the last time you saw the movie? Because if it was when you were still a teenager then you NEED to watch it again. With your discerning adult eyes open. *lol*
I’m not sure if I should admit this now or not…but we watch it regularly. 🙂
It’s kitchy! We adore it.
We have been frequently known to say to each other, “You remind me of the babe.” “What babe?” “The babe with the power.” “What power?” and so forth.
Classic. Film. 🙂
beths last blog post..Head, Meet Wall
See Jaynee, I am not the only one that thinks this movie is awesome. I will agree, the Special Effects aren’t so Special. I saw things in the movie this time around that I didn’t see before. I still think its a classic movie and will probably still watch it once a year.
I am sure if they remade it, it would be outstanding. Its a product of its time. I disagree with the music. As it might not be David Bowie’s best, the songs are still catchy and fun.