A teenager fascinated by fantasy, Sarah, is discontent when she's forced to babysit her bratty little brother Toby. When Toby just won'5 shut up, she can't help but wish him away. Unfortunately someone, the Golbin King, was listening, and to get him back Sarah must cross a bizarre labyrinth before Toby's turned into a goblin himself...

My grandmother had more than her share of bizarre superstitions and stories, but never once did she tell me to never wish a baby away, or an androgynous rock star will come and take it. Its a shame too, I certainly would have tried it.

This is one of the few films I know of that claims to be "for all ages" and actually delivers on that promise. It never talks down to children (a trait shared by all of Jim Henson's works) and it manages to keep itself entertaining and even insightful to adults throughout. And yes, there are musical numbers, but they're never ill-placed or annoying (take that, Disney!) and for the most part they're quite enjoyable, especially the few performed by Bowie himself (of course, I'm probably a bit biased; my answer to the eternal "If you were stuck on a desert island with a CD player and only x number of albums..." question always starts with "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust.").

David Bowie does give the performance of a lifetime here, playing to the hilt an entity that is both romantic and menacing, a metaphor, perhaps, for adulthood and the development of a sexuality. Of course, David Bowie isn't the only reason to watch this, no matter what people might tell you. Jennifer Connelly plays the Self-Absorbed But Generous At Heart Teenager archtype with depth, and it's hard to miss the subtle changes her character undergoes through the course of the film. It's not at all suprising that she would move on to star in films like Mulholland Falls and Requirem for a Dream.

There's finally the little imaginative touches one would usually expect from anything with Jim Henson's name on it. There's the genocide of fairies with bug spray, the "Firey" monsters who play soccer with their own heads, the indignant imps that live in the cobblestones on the path...Add in Henson's ability to create a fantasy world that, like all enduring ones, is fantastically beautiful but maintains a visible nightmarish side, and you have a classic.

Cast Connections:

-Christopher Malcolm (Sarah's father) was that Rouge 2 in The Empire Strikes Back.

-Another Star Wars connection....David Barclay (Didymus) was Jabba the Hut.

Choice Quotes:

"I ask for so little...Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."
-Jareth the Goblin King

"That's not fair!"
"You say that so often! I wonder what your basis for comparison is."
-Sarah and Jareth


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