In Labyrinth the film, this young woman named Sarah, played with a certain kind of brilliance by a young Jennifer Connelly, is challenged to navigate a massive labyrinth in less than thirteen hours, lest her brother become one of the Goblins. Labyrinth was even adapted into a game for the Commodore 64. Indeed, one popular Commodore 64 game of the time set the challenge of collecting the pieces to solve a key puzzle to save the world in a certain time period. The challenge the Goblin King sets almost sounds like a video game. Enter the Goblin King, played with a great malice by David Bowie.
A young girl wishes that her annoying stepbrother would disappear, only to find when he is gone that she misses him. At its heart, Labyrinth is a simple fable about how much we miss something once it is gone. Indeed, compared to the "you're not good if you don't have good feelings" rubbish that the likes of B'Harni fill the heads of children with, Henson productions deserve a medal. By comparison to what is being aimed at the children of my cousins, it is MENSA material, and I realise now that it was far more brilliant than I had previously given it credit for. When I was a lad, I used to think these films were childish and patronising. No, it is because unlike the purveyors of so-called family entertainment these days, your work was actually entertaining to the whole family. Not necessarily because you went before your time, or even in somewhat rotten circumstances. Oh dear, Jim Henson, you are sorely missed.