Movie Debate #72: Labyrinth

[Reed Rothchild | 9,592]

[JamesRobot | 5,839]

6.  Labyrinth is the wife's favorite movie so I've seen it a few times. 

[fox | 1,681]

It leaves me kind of hot and cold.  Feel like I’ve changed my mind about the movie before, but would need to rewatch it to see how I feel about it now.

[Brickman | 4,019]

Very high 9. Not quite in my top 10 but would be top 20. Henson, Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, what’s not to love?

Just an all round fun fantasy movie with great puppetry and a very odd story line of a baby being stollen that works because of Bowie and the world Jim Henson created.

[Sumez | 2,995]

5 years ago when we lost David Bowie I went through all of his albums chronologically, as well as a few of the movies where he's prominently featured (namely The Man Who Fell To Earth and Labyrinth), and this is definitely one I was excited to rewatch as I hadn't seen it since I was a kid.

In short, it's a fine movie, featuring some really excellent Jim Henson puppetry. But overall it doesn't have that much going for it. The story, framed as a kind of coming-of-age metaphor is pretty meager overall, and the humor never really sticks.

And the Bowie songs made for the movie... though no worse than most of his 80s output, are mostly boring pop ballads, very far from the stuff he's best at, with songs like Magic Dance being famous mostly for its campy value. Underground is "ok" I guess?

It's still fine as a kids movie, and it managed to introduce a brand new generation to David Bowie at the time. But it's not really worth digging up for a rewatch.

4/10

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

7/10. 

You remind me of the babe... I love this movie.

Also, the debate rages on over whether Bowie was stuffing something in his crotch.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Watched this a bunch when I was younger but haven't seen it in probably 20+ years. Pretty interesting concept though... I still remember a lot about it. 

[Tabonga | 2,345]

Easy 8.

How can you fault a movie that has one of these:

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Tabonga

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

I'll give it a 9 with almost exactly the same qualifications as @Shmup

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

8/10. I like how weird and scary it seemed when I was a kid. Those grabby hands haunted my nightmares. Also, I always got a kick out of the caterpillar trying to do something nice by sending her away from the castle instead of directly to it.

[Pendragonx | 117]

This movie's a classic.  /Thread
 

[Tabonga | 2,345]

4 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Those grabby hands haunted my nightmares. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Tabonga

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

i like the inch worm

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

I gave it an 8, as while I've loved it since I was a kid, I can recognize the odd rough edge here and there.  What's bizarre is that I grew up loving horror movies, sci-fi, etc., and loved this movie, and my wife who grew up in more of the typical Disney/Muppet loving household has never been able to stand it.  Go figure.

[Rocketship Evan | 55]

6- One of those movies I want to like more than I like. 

[Webhead123 | 687]

A delightful 80's fantasy film with some great moments and a few that haven't really aged all that well. I like it more than The Dark Crystal (which I know is going to make some people scream at me) and I think it's at least as entertaining as The NeverEnding Story and maybe even slightly better in my opinion. Some very memorable lines, Bowie steals the show, the Henson puppetry is all very well done and it only really feels like it drags ever-so-slightly in a couple of scenes.

It's not quite the 80's fantasy classic that Clash of the Titans or The Princess Bride is but it's definitely just a step behind them.

8/10

Edited May 31, 2021 by Webhead123

[Sumez | 2,995]

1 hour ago, Webhead123 said:

I like it more than The Dark Crystal

IMO The Dark Crystal isn't very good, but feels like it should have been.
And the Netflix series (which unfortunately got canceled after one season) really makes up for this, and then some. It's amazingly good, and really does the classic Henson puppets justice with the way they managed to recreate all the races and characters. Watch it if you haven't.

[Webhead123 | 687]

Yes, I can see the potential in The Dark Crystal but I don't think it quite delivered on it. Still a wonderfully imaginative and memorable film but just falls a bit short of its aims, I think. Haven't seen the Netflix series but I may have to check it out.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

12 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

A delightful 80's fantasy film with some great moments and a few that haven't really aged all that well. I like it more than The Dark Crystal (which I know is going to make some people scream at me) and I think it's at least as entertaining as The NeverEnding Story and maybe even slightly better in my opinion. Some very memorable lines, Bowie steals the show, the Henson puppetry is all very well done and it only really feels like it drags ever-so-slightly in a couple of scenes.

It's not quite the 80's fantasy classic that Clash of the Titans or The Princess Bride is but it's definitely just a step behind them.

8/10

I enjoy rewatching Neverending Story with my kids, but I'm still surprised to see it ranked as highly as Dark Crystal or Labyrinth.  The movie would have been twice as good without the "Falcor is awesome!" bit at the end creating too much of a silly mood shift

(Also share your love for Clash of the Titans -- HUGE fan of the camera-trick stop motion work that it pays homage to, and later found out the fun fact that my dad went to high school with Harry Hamlin  which made it even more endearing )

 

[JamesRobot | 5,839]

12 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

The NeverEnding Story... Clash of the Titans or The Princess Bride

All better films in my opinion.  Plus Bowie's junk isn't front and center in any of those...

Clash is a 10 for me.  All of the Ray Harryhausen films are great for that matter.

[Webhead123 | 687]

2 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

All better films in my opinion.  Plus Bowie's junk isn't front and center in any of those...

Clash is a 10 for me.  All of the Ray Harryhausen films are great for that matter.

If I were forced to rank them, I'd go:

Clash of the Titans
The Princess Bride
Labyrinth
The NeverEnding Story

My wife prefers NeverEnding Story but she had also never seen Labyrinth until I showed it to her a few years ago, so she had no nostalgia for it. I think both are about on par in my eyes...although for whatever reason, I watched Labyrinth many more times than the other.

[Tabonga | 2,345]

24 minutes ago, Webhead123 said:

If I were forced to rank them, I'd go:

Clash of the Titans
The Princess Bride
Labyrinth
The NeverEnding Story

My wife prefers NeverEnding Story but she had also never seen Labyrinth until I showed it to her a few years ago, so she had no nostalgia for it. I think both are about on par in my eyes...although for whatever reason, I watched Labyrinth many more times than the other.

If you haven't seen them you might enjoy Jason and the Argonauts (1963)*, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)*, Jack the Giant Killer (1962) and The Magic Sword (1962) - the last two were meant more as what we would today call young adult movies  - but they are well done enough that there is a lot for a fantasy fan to enjoy. (The Magic Sword is the last film that both Estelle Winwood and Basil Rathbone would appear in.)

*Both of these featured effects by Ray Harryhausen.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Tabonga

[JamesRobot | 5,839]

4 hours ago, arch_8ngel said:

The movie would have been twice as good without the "Falcor is awesome!" bit at the end creating too much of a silly mood shift

I have some pretty deep nostalgia for Neverending Story and that scene in particular.   

I lived in Germany when I was in 6th and 7th grade and we toured the film studio that produced it on a field trip.  At the end, they had the original Falcor placed in front of a blue screen and I got to "ride" it through a bunch of different settings very similar to the movie ending.  It was sooooo cool.

Be jealous.

Edited May 31, 2021 by JamesRobot

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

2 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

I have some pretty deep nostalgia for Neverending Story and that scene in particular.   

I lived in Germany when I was in 6th and 7th grade and we toured the film studio that produced it on a field trip.  At the end, they had the original Falcor placed in front of a blue screen and I got to "ride" it through a bunch of different settings very similar to the movie ending.  It was sooooo cool.

Be jealous.

I remember going to the "MGM Studios" section of Disney World the year it opened and they had a "behind the scenes" section that felt like you were being carted around a studio backlot -- one of the parts included something similar to what you describe but it was a giant bumblebee from "Honey I Shrunk the Kids".

Only one kid on the tour got to ride it, and at the time, I thought they must have been a planted actor -- but in hindsight, I'm sure their parents just paid a shitload of money for some kind of special access tickets.

[JamesRobot | 5,839]

17 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

Only one kid on the tour got to ride it, and at the time, I thought they must have been a planted actor -- but in hindsight, I'm sure their parents just paid a shitload of money for some kind of special access tickets.

Same deal here though it might have been 3 of us out of a class of ~25 kids.  I'm 90% sure that my parents didn't spring for any extra.  Seemed random at the time.