This tells the story of 15-year-old Sarah, who in a fit of childish rage, wishes that the goblins would come and take away her baby step-brother, Toby. Unfortunately, her wish is granted and she is transported to a world of fantasy, in which she must find her way through the goblin king’s labyrinth to save Toby.
When I was really young and would stay home sick from school, my mom would always pop in the VHS of the classic from the 1980s into the VCR and I would watch it over and over again. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I realized that there were very few people who have ever seen this movie. My English teacher gave everyone a riddle and said “I will give extra credit to anyone who knows the answer to this.” The riddle was a variation of one from the movie. It took me a minute, but I got the answer. I was the only one in the class to get it correct for I was the only one who had actually seen the movie. So, I thought I would do it some justice by writing about this amazing film.
“Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great…
You have no power over me.”
This is the all-powerful line that Sarah must deliver at the end in order to defeat the goblin king, Jareth.
This scene takes place at the goblin king’s castle. Jareth, played by David Bowie, sing to Toby and is fellow ‘subjects’.
In this scene, the ball represent the adult world itself. Everyone is wearing a mask (hiding who they really are.) There is a point at the end of the scene where Sarah looks in the mirror, and she doesn’t look like herself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6IeD49ADPg
In this scene, Sarah finds that all her worldly possesions (everything in her room) is garbage.
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=NsXtU0rZkAQ
All of Sarah’s stuffed animals are strange looking and some of them, like these creatures, appear as character later in the movie.
Some other characters:
I think Thomas Caldwell says it best when he explains how director of the film, Jim Henson, was someone, “Who really did make you believe that even as you got older, everything magical that you treasured from your childhood and all your imaginary friends were never too far away. Should you ever need them, for any reason at all.”
The special effects in this movie are incredible, especially for a movie made in the eighties. Jim Henson’s puppets are a great substitute for computer animated creatures, for puppet are 3d and actually interact with the actors whereas comuter images don’t.
The above pictures demonstrate the great artistic ability of Jim Henson. In the scene, he turns a group of human hands into one of Jareth’s traps that can grab you, and talk to you.
The scene featuring the song “Within You”, as well as most of the movie, was inspired by this piece of art and other optical illusion-like pieces.
The Labyrinth 