Labyrinth: Henson and Bowie’s beguiling, eccentric 80s family fantasy revived

Revived for its 40th anniversary, Labyrinth is presented as one of the most beguilingly eccentric and charming family movies imaginable. Jim Henson’s fantasy adventure mixes human actors, unmistakably Hensonian puppet creatures, and David Bowie in a role that goes beyond either category.

Bowie plays Jareth, the spikily coiffured king of the goblins, towering over the diminutive figures the way he might if he’d been a guest on The Muppet Show, and the review says he carries off the wacky role with absolute commitment and good humour. The film also features a cherubic teen Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, who is infuriated at being made to look after her baby half-brother Toby when her dad and stepmom are out.

In a fit of loneliness and pique, and influenced by a fairytale she has been reading called The Labyrinth, Sarah makes a spiteful wish that the goblins take the infant; they do, and she must get through the labyrinth that surrounds Jareth’s castle to wrest the child from his grasp.

Labyrinth is said to draw on Lewis Carroll, with Alice-type encounters and weightless falls, and on Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (the book is glimpsed in an early scene and Sendak is thanked in the credits). The review highlights a hallucinatory MC Escher-derived finale, notes small details such as owls and a goblin called Hoggle being wrongly addressed as "Hogwart," and describes the film as an analogue-era picture whose action often ambles and dawdles.

Key Topics

Culture, Labyrinth, Jim Henson, David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Maurice Sendak