Labyrinth (1986)

Labyrinth (1986)

Dir. Jim Henson

I adore Labyrinth. Over the years I've watched it more than any other children's movie currently in existence. It's a story in which a young woman named Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) must identify and summon the courage to overcome her own inhibiting, teenage perceptions.

The trials she faces are symbolic. The concessions offered her and the help given by her companions are similarly meaningful in an easily understood and simplistic way. There's nothing challenging about the story, but that's not a failing; it's really more of a strength, making the work universal and timeless.

I'm not saying it's without fault, because it definitely isn't. The episodic structure drags it down. Viewed with adult eyes it becomes a string of random events tied loosely together by the journey from A to B. Throw in a new event or remove an existing one and the outcome would be the same, provided the characters needed at the end still get their introduction somehow.

- A point of convergence, in more ways than one -