(Image courtesy of Tri-Star Pictures)Last semester, I fell in love with David Bowie. I listened to “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” and “Aladdin Sane” daily for about a month. Bowie intrigued me to such a great degree, because he is a person known just as well for his exuberant outfits as for his music — what’s not to love?
More cults! Seriously, we have so many. It's getting ridiculous. Like, c'mon.
Until a friend told me about its weirdness, one appendage of Bowie’s career eluded me: “Labyrinth,” a 1986 film directed by Jim Henson, creator of “The Muppets,” who co-created the storyline with fantasy illustrator Brian Froud. Bowie stars as Jareth, the Goblin king who steals Toby, the baby stepbrother of 15-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly). Throughout the film, Sarah must brave the mysteries of the labyrinth that surrounds Jareth’s castle to find and save Toby.
The whole movie is really off the wall with characters randomly breaking into song, hints at Jareth's unrequited love for Sarah, and myriad creatures more obscure than anything I've ever imagined. Even with all this strangeness, though, the movie still manages to maintain the cohesiveness of the central plot without devolving into subplots.
Other than Sarah, her family, and Jareth, the cast was made up entirely of puppets created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Teams of puppeteers operated all of the creatures in the labyrinth. Shari Weiser was inside the costume of Hoggle, a dwarf that befriends Sarah in the maze, but the character's facial movements were entirely controlled by a remote control overseen by three crewmembers. Both Connelly and Bowie admitted to having trouble shooting with the puppets.
Despite this, interactions between the live actors and the puppets seem completely natural — sometimes better than an episode of "Sesame Street." With a $25,000,000 budget, the production company was able to secure a highly believable set of characters for the film.
The film’s visual effects are notable for other reasons as well. The production used what was the largest scenery flat ever created to bring the large forest set to life. This scene was perfected in post-production editing by Henson with the help of producer George Lucas. A computer generated owl was also added in editing and is actually the first use of CGI for animals in a film.
“Labyrinth” is easily one of the oddest movies I’ve ever seen. This is understandable when you have the creator of "The Muppets" as the director and "Monty Python" member Terry Jones as the writer — not to mention Bowie providing the music.
All three of these influences are easily accessible within the film. The humor is a perfect blend of "The Muppets" and "Monty Python," while Bowie’s musical numbers put an interesting spin on pieces that could have been sung by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem or part of “The Meaning of Life.”
The best musical scene comes when the Fire Gang sings to Sarah, trying to get her to dance along instead of continuing to the castle. The puppets bounce around the forest, pulling out their eyes and taking off their heads. When they try to get Sarah to do the same, she throws their heads into the trees and runs away.
Different from other fantasy adventure film characters, Sarah doesn't seem to be distracted by these side shows. It is refreshing to see a main character who doesn't lose track of her end goal.
The most interesting scene of the film, however, comes when Sarah is in the Shaft of Hands, a vertical chute full of hands that can guide people up or down the shaft. These hands form themselves into faces that have a conversation with Sarah, asking her which direction she would prefer to go in. Around 100 performers were needed to film this scene, and it seems to be one of the most complicated parts of the movie.
“Labyrinth" provides an odd, but fun, movie watching experience that has been embraced by fans of "The Muppets," "Monty Python" and David Bowie alike. It’s not an easy film to forget.
Reach the columnist at William.Ruof@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @willruof
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