Blu-ray Review

The Dark Crystal / Labyrinth

Official Synopsis:

Labyrinth -
Relive the magic! This newly restored, 2 disc anniversary edition of Jim Henson's Labyrinth contains an all new commentary and bonus features that are guaranteed to captivate as never before. David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly invite you into a magic universe where nothing is what it seems! Babysitting infant stepbrother Toby on a weekend night isn't young Sarah's (Connelly) idea of fun. Frustrated by his crying, she secretly imagines the goblins from her favorite book, Labyrinth, carrying Toby away. When her fantasy comes true, a distraught Sarah must enter a maze of illusion to bring Toby back from a kingdom inhabited by mystical creatures and governed by the wicked Goblin King (Bowie).

The Dark Crystal -
Journey into the fantastical world of Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and a cast of incredible creatures created by Jim Henson. Frustrated with baby-sitting on yet another weekend night, Sara - a teenager with an active imagination - summons the Goblins from her favorite book, "Labyrinth," to take her baby step-brother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into the world of the fairy tale to rescue him from the wicked Goblin King (Bowie)! Guarding his castle is The Labyrinth itself - a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers. To get through it in time to save Toby, Sarah will have to outwit the King by befriending the very Goblins who protect him, in hopes that their loyalty isn't just another illusion in a place where nothing is as easy as it seems!

Our Take:

I have nothing against puppets. I just want to make that clear; it's not puppets themselves I have a problem with. It just seems that every movie I see them in, I don't necessarily like.

Although I'm right in the target demographic for both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal (indeed, I vividly remember when both movies came out), I've never been particularly in love with either of them. I think there are reasons for both, however. With Labyrinth, as much as I wanted to see it as a kid, I never got the chance to until I was an adult. Without the sense of nostalgia that comes with having seen a movie that's clearly aged as a child, it just didn't hold that sense of wonder and excitement for me that I would have had otherwise. As for The Dark Crystal, well… the fact of the matter is that as a child, the Skeksis scared the living crap out of me. Silly, I know, but hey, I was a kid. I never revisited that movie because I had such a bad reaction to it when I was young. Even now, I find it a bit dull, and more than a little dark for a supposed kids' film.

So as an adult, neither of these films fills me with warm, fuzzy memories as they seem to do for so many other people. I will admit that The Dark Crystal is a technically brilliant film; I don't think I even realized when I was a kid that the movie is entirely comprised of puppets with no human actors on screen at all. That's pretty impressive. And Labyrinth also has some great puppetry at work. It just seems like I'm not destined to ever love either film all that much.

Audio & Video:

Both films look better on Blu-ray than they ever have before on home video, and since there have been a couple of different home video versions over the years, that's not too shabby. The films have some flaws, including occasionally excessive grain, black levels that aren’t as solid as they could be, and some occasional print blemishes, but these are all a lot more minor than I'm making them sound. The fact is, they're barely noticeable, and on the whole the films both look very nice. The movies feature noticeably improved color saturation and image clarity, with very clean lines and good attention to detail throughout the films.

Each film also features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround soundtrack. Like the transfers, these are not the aural attacks of a big budget Hollywood blockbuster, but rather appropriately solid mixes that work hard to create a sense of authenticity and bring the movies to life accurately rather than going for sheer volume and bombast. Score music sounds terrific, dialogue is all reproduced with nice, natural tones, and the mixes on the whole are very pleasing, even if they’re not the ones you’re going to pull out to show off your surround sound with.

Special Features (Blu-ray Exclusive):

Labyrinth -

• The Storytellers - A picture-in-picture interview feature.

• The Book of Thra: Dark Crystal Collector
• Skektek's Crystal Challenge - Trivia Game
• Picture In Picture Storyboard Track
• Introduction By Screenwriter David Odell

• Journey Through the Labyrinth: Kingdom Of Characters & The Quest For Goblin City - Two All New Behind the Scenes Documentaries That Include Rediscovered Footage from the Henson Archives and Newly Recorded Interviews with the People Who Brought Labyrinth to Life.
• New Commentary by Brian Froud.
• Original Making Of Documentary Inside The Labyrinth

• Reflections of the Dark Crystal: Light On The Path Of Creation & Shard Of Illusion - Two All-New Behind the Scenes Documentaries That Include Rediscovered Footage from the Henson Archives and Newly-Recorded Interviews with the People who created The Dark Crystal.
• New Commentary by Brian Froud.
• Original Making of Documentary: The World Of The Dark Crystal.
• Deleted Scenes.
• Work Print Scenes.
• Character Drawings.