Title: The NeverEnding Story
Year: 1984
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway, Tami Stronach
Rated: PG
My Review: Based on the book by Michael Ende, you get this crazy story of a boy reading a book, and interacting with it. This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, I loved everything about it. But with returning to this world as an adult, it doesn't hold up very well. It can get very cheesy. The puppets, although look really cool, aren't very good moving-wise. They barely move their mouths, which can take you out of the story. I haven't read the book, so I don't know how close the movie is to it, but this movie does have some pretty stupid moments. Like the black dude with the flesh mohawk tells Atreyu "To save the world of Fantasia, you aren't allowed to take any weapons with you.".......um.....why? "Because the script says so, now get going you little shit!" (I added that last part.) Or when Bastian has to give the child-like empress a new name. So he gives her the name of his mother, which is inaudible in the movie because of the thunder and lightning. But years later I found out that the name he yells is "Moonchild".... Oh, wait.... Your mother's name was Moonchild?! must have had hippie parents. Also the actor Noah Hathaway went through some shit on during filming. (which on a side note, later he appeared in the movie Troll, and his character name was Harry Potter) First of all during his training to ride a horse, the horse bucked him off then stepped on his arm. He got his foot stuck in the elevator that sunk him into the "swamps of sadness" and was pulled out unconscious. And when he battled the wolf creature "Gmork" the production "threw" the animatronic puppet on him to simulate it lunging at him, one of the claws scraped his face and almost took an eye out, and he got the wind knocked out of him because the puppet was so heavy. Wow, ever heard of stunt doubles? 5 out of 10 purple buffaloes.
Title: Labyrinth
Year: 1986
Director: Jim Henson
Cast: David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Toby Froud, Brian Henson
Rated: PG
My Review: Written by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, and Jennifer Connelly's film debut. You get this gem from Jim Henson. Now this film isn't perfect, in fact it's not even that good. The only saving grace of this film is the awe-inspiring work of the Jim Henson company and Brian Froud, and the music of David Bowie. Even though I love Monty Python, the dialogue written by Terry Jones has a real amateur feeling to it. And Jennifer Connelly's acting is horrible. The only thing that I really love about this movie is the puppetry. It is amazing, and the animatronic work for the faces are ahead of their time. The expressions are the best I've ever seen, and continues to surprise me with this awesome craftsmanship. Because of this, my rating goes up to 7 out of 10 crystal balls.
Title: Return to OZ
Year: 1985
Director: Walter Murch
Cast: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Brian Henson
Rated: PG
My Review: I love this movie. And the music is great, so eerily sad & beautiful. The dark nature of this film makes it one of my childhood favorites. One thing that makes this movie so creepy, is the echo. You hear it throughout the whole film. The stop-motion work for the Gnome King and his fellow rock creatures by Will Vinton is awesome, some of the best in stop-motion history. The thing that really scared me in the movie was the wheelers. Holy shit, did these guys scare the crap out of me. With their clown-like laugh, and the insistent squeaking of their wheels. And I love the character of Jack Pumpkin head, (which was half marionette, and a guy in a suit) and Tick Tock (which was acted by a guy standing on his hands, with his legs tucked into his stomach). Crazy 8 out of 10 lunch-pail trees.
and check out this crazy Japanese poster. It looks like a freakin' horror movie!
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