80s Fantasy Movie Review: “Labyrinth”

I have embarked on a quest to watch a number of 80s Fantasy flicks and share my findings with you, dear readers. Today, we reflect on Labyrinth. This is one of the many on the list that I had not seen before, so I’m coming at it fresh.

The movie does many things right. The intro scene is just great, and the premise is a perfect set up for a childhood classic. It just feels like a perfect movie for kids to watch with the setup of Sarah having to watch the “annoying” younger child, Toby, along with her drifting into fantasyland, and more. It’s got 80s movie written all over it, but in a good way. The premise with Sarah having to make her way through a labyrinth to get Toby back is fun. Plus, David Bowie is a pretty awesome Goblin King.

The sets were also pretty cool to see, and some of the costumes were really neat.

Let’s just get this out of the way: you can’t unsee David Bowie’s pants. Every scene it’s like they decided to accentuate a certain masculine feature of the man by means of strangely fitting garments. One might even argue that his pants are the true antagonist of the movie. I’ll just leave it there.

There are also some really inexplicable scenes, like the one with the weird fire thingies that throw their heads back and forth. It’s just weird, extremely long, and obnoxious. Other scenes also seem to be really drawn out to the extent that the movie seems to absolutely crawl at times.

All that said, though, this is another 80s Fantasy Flick I wouldn’t mind seeing again. It has an undeniable charm and real sense of fun throughout that is absolutely necessary for a movie like this.

The Good

+Fun childhood fantasy story
+Intriguing premise
+David Bowie
+Good sets

The Bad

-Often feels bogged down
-Many weird scenes
-David Bowie’s pants

The Verdict

My Score: B- “It’s weird and it really drags at times but the sheer amount of charm the movie possesses makes it fun to watch.”

Guest Verdict: B “It’s hard too go to far wrong with fun music and lovable puppets.”

Conclusion

“Labyrinth” is a fun movie I wouldn’t mind seeing again, particularly with the ability to skip through some of the unnecessary scenes.

Links

J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

Time to Watch some 80s Fantasy Flicks– I describe my quest to watch a bunch of 80s fantasy movies. This post also features links to all the reviews done so far.

A Ranking of 1980s Fantasy that would please Crom Himself– The original list of movies that made me embark on this quest.

SDG.