Nostalgia holds a magical power over people. It can warm souls, comfort sadness, project youth, and even cloud judgment. This makes films like Labyrinth particularly difficult to read critically. Much like Goonies, Henson's Labyrinth's, a mix of wry comedy and innovatively designed ideas, put a loving trance on swaths of 20-40 year olds who happened to see it at the right time. Much like many of its ilk, I'm not sure it completely deserves all the accolades it gets from its fanboys/girls. However, it's still fantastical fun, even if its storytelling urgency is less than fully engulfing. It's a film more interested in incidents than plot (girl wishes brother would leave, goblins steal brother, sister has to get brother back). In that sense, and many others, it hearkens Alice in Wonderland (my favorite Disney Animated film). It's an intensely imaginative movie that follows a bored young girl (played by Connelly with the charisma of a mannequin) as she encounters an adventure full of odd characters, winding streets, and inexplicable magic. The characters within the maze are fun and distinct, and Bowie matches the dark mystery of the story while keeping a childish wonder right below the surface. The difference between this and other kids-fantasy-adventures I REALLY love is hard to pinpoint. The design is outstanding, the humor is affable, the characters are surprising, and the scenes pop with surprise. Again, I can only assume my distance from this film during my early age keeps me at a slight distance. Nonetheless, this is an enjoyable piece of 80s pop-culture that I'm shocked Tim Burton and Johnny Depp haven't ruined with a CG-covered remake. Give it time.
Review of Labyrinth
