Jim Henson
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As riffs on Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz go, Jim Henson's Labyrinth is a painfully dated, shockingly un-magical romp through a fragmented netherworld populated by Ziggy Stardust and a horde of little people wearing giant papier-mâché heads.
Similar to the books loved by the film’s young hero, which include Peter Pan, Snow White, The Wizard of Oz and Where the Wild Things Are, Labyrinth is a wildly inventive and imaginative adventure story combined with a parable about maturity.
Movie lovers will recognize elements of "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz" that Henson "borrowed" to make this movie, but they'll also get a kick out of seeing all of the elements in this film that turn up later in the Harry Potter books and movies.
You can see in this adventure everything from "The Wizard of Oz " and "Alice in Wonderland " to "New Zoo Revue " and Pink Floyd's "The Wall ."
MirrorMask (2005)
Directed by Dave McKean
influenced by The Dark Crystal (1982), Labyrinth (1986)
Themes Visuals
As screenwriter Neil Gaiman tells the story, Mirrormask came about when Lisa Henson contacted him about creating a new movie in the mode of Labyrinth and The Dark Crystaltwo Jim Henson fantasy features that failed at the box office but have reached family-classic on VHS and DVD.
A first-time cinematic collaboration between the extravagantly imaginative writer Neil Gaiman and the artist-director David McKean (both are intensely revered in the comic-book subculture for their work on the esteemed "Sandman" series, among many other things), the movie has a flickery, handmade quality that recalls such primordial entertainments as George Méliès' 1902 "A Trip to the Moon," and an unrelenting otherworldliness that's indebted to more modern films, like the late Jim Henson's 1986 "Labyrinth." ("MirrorMask" was in fact produced by the puppet masters of the Jim Henson Company.)
As screenwriter Neil Gaiman tells the story, Mirrormask came about when Lisa Henson contacted him about creating a new movie in the mode of Labyrinth and The Dark Crystaltwo Jim Henson fantasy features that failed at the box office but have reached family-classic on VHS and DVD.
Gaiman and McKean's mandate from the Jim Henson Co. was to create something in a similar vein to The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, movies which bombed on initial release but have steadily grown in popularity over the years.
Borrowing heavily from The Wizard of Oz, and to a lesser extent from Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia, co-creators Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (collaborating with The Jim Henson Group, who made The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth in this genre during the 1980s) develop a simplistic tale of good and evil, and of a quest that doesn't have many interesting intermediate points between its beginning and its conclusion.
Combining elements of Dali surrealism, Cirque du Soleil, Eyes Wide Shut‘s anonymous orgy scene, The Brothers Quay’s mannequin-infatuated stop-motion shorts, Adam Jones’s videos for Tool, The Wizard of Oz, two prior Henson projects ( Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal), and Gaiman’s own Sandman comic series, this children’s fantasy about the bond between parents and children is a stylistic smorgasbord bloated with literary and cinematic influences.
The Green Knight (2021)
Directed by David Lowery
influenced by The Dark Crystal (1982)
Themes Visuals
The Green Knight reminded me in subtle ways of a lot of other films I’d seen – Darren Aronofksy’s The Fountain , Robert Eggers’ The Witch , even Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal as just a few examples – while at the same time feeling unlike anything I’d seen before.
With inspiration from films such as Willow , The Dark Crystal , and The Passion of Joan of Arc , The Green Knight is a slow-burning, character study.
Lowery has cited multiple films that influenced him over the years as he worked to bring The Green Knight to life onscreen: Willow , Bram Stoker's Dracula , The Dark Crystal , Marie Antoinette , and The Passion of Joan of Arc , a 1928 French silent film by Carl Dreyer.
And while some of the in-movie puzzles are relatively obvious (hell, they even borrow one from Jim Henson's Labyrinth!), the movie as a whole proves to be sort of a puzzle in its own right.
Films like Excalibur, The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride and especially Labyrinth rank as four of my all-time favorites, and any fantasy spectacular echoing them even slightly automatically raises my eyebrows to their maximum breaking point.
In a way it’s a throwback to what fantasy movies were before Peter Jackson, reminiscent of now rather dated work like Willow, Legend, or The Dark Crystal.
And I don't mean having a character who's tied to a definite age entering into a fantasy world, because we've seen that a multitude of times since J. M. Barrie introduced audiences to Peter Pan, L. Frank Baum gave us Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Lewis Carroll penned Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Carlson Young’s directorial debut (in which she also stars), The Blazing World , reminded me, above all else, of 1986's Labyrinth .
In theory, Ryuk is a trickster, à la David Bowie’s Goblin King in “Labyrinth,” but the movie curiously lacks the “be careful what you wish for” dimension so common in this genre, from literary classic “The Monkey’s Paw” to the wish-they-were-better “Wishmaster” horror franchise.
From the Long Term Memory labyrinth reminiscent of the one in 1986's "Labyrinth," to the many personality islands that begin dismantling as Riley loses her spirit, to the Train of Thought they hope to board to get back to their control-center home, to dazzling stops at the Hollywood backlot-inspired Dreamland Studios and the forebidding areas of Riley's subconscious, these sequences are not left wanting in aesthetic beauty and metaphoric intent.
Richard Madden (“Game of Thrones”), as handsome prince Kit, fills out the royal uniform quite nicely, if a little eyebrow-raisingly — his tight white pants recall David Bowie’s famously suggestive Spandex getup in “Labyrinth.”
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
Directed by Mark Gustafson
influenced by The Dark Crystal (1982)
It’s very reminiscent of the darker breed of children’s films from the 1980s like “The Dark Crystal” (which makes sense, considering The Jim Henson Company are producers of it), and more contemporarily, it has obvious echoes of Laika’s recent output.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Directed by Carlos López Estrada
influenced by The Dark Crystal (1982)
Themes Plot
Part The Dark Crystal 1982), part Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and all Disney, Raya is a fun-filled escapade for the whole family.
Movie buffs may feel like Raya has taken 80 percent of its beats from other animated stories, from The Lion King to The Dark Crystal .
A Monster Calls (2016)
Directed by J. A. Bayona
influenced by Labyrinth (1986), The Dark Crystal (1982)
Themes Visuals
It has some genuine affinities with the underrated 1986 “ Labyrinth ,” in which Jennifer Connelly confronted a looming transition from girlhood to womanhood via a fantasy realm ruled by an elfin David Bowie .
It’s like the old Jim Henson movies The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
It’s like the old Jim Henson movies The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
This is, as anyone who grew up during Jim Henson’s “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth” era knows, a positive trend in family films.
Buckley) and Ramsey (Anna Paquin); a flock of ferocious Pterosaurs led by Thunderclap (Steve Zahn), and a gang of wild velociraptors who appear to be descendants of the "Chilly Down"-singing Fireys from 1986's "Labyrinth."
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972)
Directed by William Sterling
influenced Labyrinth (1986)
Plot
And I don't mean having a character who's tied to a definite age entering into a fantasy world, because we've seen that a multitude of times since J. M. Barrie introduced audiences to Peter Pan, L. Frank Baum gave us Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Lewis Carroll penned Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Inspired, in part, by William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and possessing the same general feeling of some of the more fucked-up kids' movies from the '70s and '80s (things like Jim Henson's "Labyrinth" and Disney's infamous "The Black Cauldron"), "Strange Magic" is set in a mythical land of fairies, trolls, and imps.
The movie’s creative team—which includes screenwriters Danny McBride (who also stars) and Ben Best as well as director David Gordon Green—have set their specific sights on ’80s-era medieval romps like Excalibur, Willow and The Princess Bride, while also showering affectionate ridicule on such otherworldly adventures as the Jim Henson classics The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and the Peter Yates camp favorite Krull.
The whole thing is ultimately too in awe of its own characters, respecting them without pushing them, to feel as fresh and sharp as The Muppet Movie; but it compares tolerably well to the early sequels The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan ; none of the new filmmakers have Henson's gift for being embarrassingly earnest without coming across as treacly, and there are a lot of places where the movie suffers from an acute attack of the sweets.
Meanwhile, its most receptive demographic consists of adults who probably want something a bit more knowing than, say, The Great Muppet Caper.
The most recent previous feature film in the series, "Muppets in Space," dates to 1999, but the golden era of the Muppets probably ended 30 years ago, in 1981, when the second movie, "The Great Muppet Caper," was released, and the syndicated "The Muppet Show" -- closer to "The Carol Burnett Show" than to any so-called children's program -- went off the air after five seasons of satire, spoofery, slapstick, shtick, songs and guest stars.
A frisky new film showcasing some old pals made out of felt, charm and some kind of genius, the Disney release "The Muppets" overcomes a jaded streak reflecting its makers' nervousness about selling Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the gang to an audience unfamiliar with "Sesame Street" (a Muppets chapter conspicuously left out of Disney's production notes) or "The Muppet Show" or the best of the earlier feature-length films, "The Great Muppet Caper" being my favorite.
The spindly, large-eyed, goo-covered creature looks and feels like a throwback to the kind of otherworldly monsters from the best ‘70s and ‘80s fantasy films, such as “E.T.” or Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth,” and shares a similar tender yet treacherous relationship with a young protagonist.
Dressed like a modern-day version of David Bowie’s Jareth from Labyrinth , her looks are that of a glam villain, complete with capes, a frosty blue wig, and jewel gloves with cat nails.