Labyrinth -- 1986 -- PG

A fantasy tale from the Jim Henson company involving a girl who unwittingly gives her baby brother over to the Goblin King causing her to have to follow him through the King's labyrinth in order to get him back. It's a great little story with some fanciful characters and good humor. Hey, what can you expect from Jim Henson at the helm and a Monty Python alumnus, Terry Jones, writing the screenplay?

While the story is overall quite fun, it is not without shortcomings. One thing that no one would be able to get away with in a normal story is all the coincidental things that go on. Nearly everything happens by apparent coincidence, chance, or just good luck. Sarah marks the ground. These marks just happen to be on movable tiles. Sarah falls into a oubliette. Hoggle just happens to be waiting for her there. They run up against a locked door running from the cleaners. There just happens to be a collapseable wall next to the door that Sarah just happens to find. Sarah escapes the junk lady. Her band of friends just happen to be right outside.

Can't fault the band of buddies as this sort of thing is typical of kid movies, which this one lays no claim to being more than. The over-emphasis on being friends gets grating after awhile, and I honestly wished we would move on from that. "Ludo and Hoggle friends..." Great.

These are my only complaints though. It's a fun movie to watch, and the music is awesome. Some parts are very 80's-ish in style, but it only adds to the nostalgia of the whole thing. I've always liked this film, and I still do.