Review: The Dark Crystal

Set in a fantasy world divided into two main races; The evil and grotesque Skeksis, and the peaceful Mystics. When a shard of the Dark Crystal (which essentially keeps things in balance) is lost, it threatens the balance of the world into evil and darkness. Jen (voice of Stephen Garlick) is the last of the elfin Gelfling race who is assigned the task of finding the missing shard and putting it back in its rightful place before the Skeksis’ power becomes all-encompassing and darkness rules forever.

 

This is one of those movies that I was exposed to at such an early age that I’m fuzzy as to whether I even sat through the whole thing. I do remember not being terribly interested in it, but being that it came out in 1982 and I was born in 1980, it’s unsurprising. As a 32 year-old, I feel that although supposedly geared towards kids, the film actually works a lot better for an older audience, so long as they’re an audience exposed to The Muppets and interested in the fantasy genre.

 

Directed by Muppets creator Jim Henson (“Labyrinth”) and Miss Piggy himself (shut up, I’m hilarious), in Frank Oz, this fantasy film is much more Tolkien than “The Muppet Show” or even “Fraggle Rock”. Actually, as written by David Odell (“Supergirl”, “Masters of the Universe”), the plot is probably a combo of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Time Machine”. I might not have appreciated as a real young ‘un, but I actually enjoyed it as an adult and think those aged 12 and up probably got something out of it back in the day, so long as they’re into fantasy. Would the 12 year-olds of today feel the same? Perhaps not, but I’m 32, not 12, and can only tell you that I was pleasantly surprised, whilst still seeing why the film wasn’t quite the box-office juggernaut everyone was probably hoping for. If you enjoyed “Willow”, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy this too.

 

It’s a really good-looking and imaginative-looking tale (the fantasy world is interestingly designed and detailed), with far more intricate puppet design than anything you’d see on “The Muppet Show” or “Fraggle Rock”. The nasty vulture-like Skeksis’ in particular, are a long way from the simple green felt of Kermit the Frog. One Skeksis in particular might go a long way to explaining the hatred many harboured for Jar-Jar Binks. He’s untrustworthy despite his protestations of wanting to be friends, and sounds like a less Jamaican Jar-Jar. I bet Henson and his team had a whale of a time here letting their imaginations run riot. Conceptual designer Brian Froud, in particular, deserves praise here, as apparently the majority of the film’s visual aesthetic came from his efforts. I guess you could call this puppetry somewhat technologically outdated, but like the stop-motion work of Ray Harryhausen (“Clash of the Titans”, “Jason and the Argonauts”), there’s a charm to it, and if you were raised on the Muppets, accepting this as real for 90 minutes or so won’t be a problem. For 1982, this stuff is pretty damn well-done (shitty animated flames notwithstanding), and it makes you wonder why the puppet design on “Sesame Street” has never really evolved. Something about colour-coded simplicity playing well with the young ‘uns, maybe.

 

Most of the voice work is pretty good, with narrator Joseph O’Connor and old pro Billie Whitelaw especially memorable (the latter playing Aughra, an old crone with a detachable eye). Having said that, why does the latter always look and sound like she’s taking a dump? It’s very, very weird. The weakest aspect to the entire film are the central characters of Jen and Kira and the dull voice work of Stephen Garlick and Lisa Maxwell in those roles. Jen looks alarmingly like Barbra Streisand, and Garlick in particular is bland as hell in what is essentially a third-rate Frodo Baggins. For starters, his race are called Gelflings, which sound like halfway between an Elf and a Halfling. But the actors have to work overtime to get any emotion out given it isn’t possible to express such things on their puppet faces, and both Garlick and Maxwell fail miserably. It simply isn’t fair to lay the blame at the puppetry, because Grover, Elmo, and other Muppets have been able to affect us quite easily. Hell, Tiny Tim in “Muppet Christmas Carol” makes me cry every damn time!

 

This isn’t a great film, and the plot is standard fantasy fare, with the results being best suited to a niche market. I also think the two story strands take too long to tie together, with the Skeksis skulking around for too long, waiting for Jen to turn up. However, I think it’s pretty enjoyable for what it is, and certainly a lot more ambitious than anything previously attempted by the Henson stable. It actually stands up better than a lot of other early 80s fantasy films. View it as a kind of ‘Live Action Animation’ rather than live action or animation solely, and you might get on the film’s wavelength. Where has this film been all my life? Good, but sparingly used Trevor Jones (“Labyrinth”, “Excalibur”) music score too.

 

Rating: B-