Review for Labyrinth

Introduction

I’ve mentioned before how when it comes to family adventure movies, Labyrinth and The Princess Bride exist together in my mind. It might hark back to when I used to tape movies off the television, and they wound up on the same tape. Thereafter, when I started collecting movies, I would buy them together, even though they were made by different studios, and sold by different distributors. There was never a Labyrinth/Princess Bride twinpack. So I wound up buying the films on VHS, and on DVD on the same days. But that habit faced a challenge when it came to Blu-ray.


The problem is The Princess Bride. It was released on Blu-ray in 2009, and has had countless re-releases for various anniversaries since then, culminating in a 4k release last year. But every Blu-ray release of that film has been that same 2009 disc, simply repackaged. I gave up waiting for a new master and just settled for that disc last year. Over the same period, Labyrinth has had several releases too, and it seems each new release has featured a new master, with new extra features, culminating in the 30th Anniversary 4k release and Blu-ray releases. By the time I placed an order for The Princess Bride, the UK 30th Anniversary BD of Labyrinth was gone, with just the 4kUHD/BD easily available here. I wound up importing the 30th Anniversary Blu-ray from Germany, which seems to be the last resort for physical media these days. But once again, I bought both films on the same day.


Sarah is a teenager who is holding onto her childhood dreams, and lamenting the unfairness in the world; particularly a stepmother who doesn’t understand her, and a baby brother who now holds the family’s attention. One night, compelled to babysit, Sarah gets tired of her little brother Toby’s crying, and idly wishes that the goblins would take him away. It’s a wish she instantly regrets when Toby vanishes, and the goblin king Jareth informs her that the only way she’ll see her brother again is if she solves the Labyrinth in 13 hours, otherwise Toby will become a goblin too.

The Disc

Labyrinth gets a 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this disc, with the choice between Dolby Atmos English, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French, Italian Portuguese, German and Spanish, with subtitles in these languages and Chinese Korean, Dutch, Indonesian, and Thai. It’s a great transfer, clear and sharp with rich and consistent colours, free of print damage and signs of age, and offering great detail with no signs of compression or banding and the like. It’s properly filmic too, with a nice if subtle level of grain, and the only issue might be a bit of flicker in some few scenes. The audio is fine, an expansion on the original cinematic stereo, but immersive enough, keeping the dialogue clear, and bringing the action and effects, and especially the music across well. It being an Atmos track, you’ll have to nudge the volume up a smidge more than usual.

Extras

You get one disc in a thin BD Amaray style case, with a massive German ratings logo on the front. The disc boots to a static menu, and you’ll find the following extras, some from the DVD releases of the film, some from the 25th Anniversary Blu-ray, and some new for this 30th Anniversary release.


Audio Commentary with Brian Froud (conceptual designer)
Reordering Time: Looking Back at the Labyrinth (9:31)
The Henson Legacy (10:36)
Remembering the Goblin King (4:48)
Anniversary Q & A (41:24)
“Inside the Labyrinth” Making of Documentary (56:28)
Journey Through the Labyrinth: “Kingdom of Characters” (27:57)
Journey Through the Labyrinth: “The Quest for the Goblin City” (30:03)
The Storytellers – Picture-in-Picture
Theatrical Trailers (4:08)

Conclusion

When I reviewed the DVD, I then thought that the quaint analogue visual effects used in portions of the film felt outdated next to 21st Century digital effects technology. Having lived with the ubiquity of digital effects since then, I’ve now got a far greater appreciation of the analogue way of doing things. Also, a film that was still open to criticism while it was still a teenager, now really has attained timeless classic status as it approaches its fifth decade. Labyrinth is a wonderful, entertaining, funny and heartfelt fairy tale.


It’s also a coming of age story, introducing the protagonist Sarah as a young woman yet to outgrow her childhood, indulging in fantasies and dreams, despite her parents’ expectations. What’s more, she sees her circumstances, her father remarried, a new baby brother supplanting her in their affections, in terms of childhood stories and fables. She still sees the world through a child’s eyes, complaining at the unfairness of it all when things don’t go her way. When she complains about her brother, the goblins are listening, and spirit him away to their king, Jareth.


She has to go on an adventure through the titular Labyrinth, finding her way through before Jareth’s 13 hour deadline, in order to rescue Toby before he becomes a goblin. On the way she meets all manner of strange characters created by Henson puppetry magic to help or hinder her on her way. It’s a rapid education in the reality of the world for her, and she has to grow up pretty quickly. But it’s all punctuated with great music, delightful characters and absurd situations, and it’s so much fun to watch.


For the 30th Anniversary, Labyrinth got a great Blu-ray release, with the film getting excellent presentation in terms of A/V, and packed with heaps of extra features. It is hard to find now in the UK, as the SKU has shifted to a 4kUHD/BD twin pack. If all you want is the Blu-ray, it may still be available for import from other territories, and given that the disc is universal, the only difference will be in the packaging.