Labyrinth

Labyrinth (1986) starring David Bowie as Jareth - a trickster and Goblin King - and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah - a fifteen-year-old girl who wishes her brother (Toby) to be taken away by the goblins.

With the exception of Jareth and Sarah, all the other major characters are puppets - and well-done puppets at that! This was one of the most interesting parts of the film, in my opinion, as it has been a VERY long time since I've seen any puppets in film.

Here is a small collection of the magical characters she encounters throughout the labyrinth (ordered chronologically, of course):

Hoggle is a grumpy and unpleasant dwarf who first shows her the way into the labyrinth and makes another appearance after she falls into an oubliette. He then accompanies her as a companion for the rest of the film for two reasons. One, she is his friend now, and two, she stole his pretty objects.

Ludo is a very large but gentle beast who has the ability to... um... call rocks who are his friends to his aide. This talent comes in handy on a few occasions that I will not mention as it may spoil

 

the movie for those of you who wish to still watch it after this. Ludo enters the "Fellowship of the Toby" after Sarah rescues him from a group of goblin tormentors.

Sir Didymus, a fox-like character, and his noble steed - a dog by the name of Ambrosius - are met at the Bog of Eternal Stench. Although at first Sir Didymus tries to slow down or stop Sarah's rescue of Toby by guarding the bridge and not letting them across, he eventually joins them after Ludo "battles" him and they declare a draw... although Ludo has the speech power of E.T. so he just sort of nods his head.

Although parts of the movie continually confused me or had me scratching my head as to what exactly happened, I did enjoy this movie and laughed quite a bit.

The singing was pretty good, although I wasn't in the mood for a musical at the time, but I thought the puppeteers did a fabulous job with all the characters, especially Ludo (I think you can tell who my favorite character was).

For the great characters, the brilliant puppet voices, and the hilarious moments involving Ludo and Ambrosius, I give this movie:
3.5/5

It still had the head-scratching moments and a few other personal problems with the movie including a bland-toned Sarah and a not-so-scary Goblin King.

A GREAT family movie!