There are only four movies that I can remember I saw during my childhood that piqued my imagination. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, E.T., 101 Dalmatians, and The Dark Crystal. Similar to today’s standards – I did see quite a few films when I was a child (some of which I had to watch in my closet due to the fact that my conservative parents probably would of disapproved of their nature). But these four movies – and focusing on The Dark Crystal within the context of this review – woke up my imagination through sights and sounds – and basically made me want more.

The Dark Crystal can best be summed up as a science-fiction movie starring Muppets. Not Kermit the Frog, or Miss Piggy – and no, you won’t hear the expression “Pigs In Space!!!” – but characters that you can easily tell are made up of fabric and other large pieces found in your local craft store. This was a time before computer graphics – where movies centered around building something with a hammer and glue – and not with a few million keystrokes. Nonetheless – The Dark Crystal is the Chicken Run of its day. An artistic piece painfully constructed where time is required and not a hindrance towards creation. Where people sit down and brainstorm ideas – visually create massive storyboards – and throw away normal expectations in favor of creating new ones. The saddest thing about The Dark Crystal is that its creator, Jim Henson, is no longer around today to keep provoking our imaginations.

The story boils down to a glass shard – as the title represents, a Dark Crystal. There was a time when the world lived in harmony and peace – but because of certain events the harmony was broken when a powerful crystal was shattered. Evil separated into evil beings called the Skeksis and good was separated into good beings called the Mystics. They are one – yet are apart.

The adventure lies in the quest to put the crystal back together again. Doing so would in theory reunite the harmony together – but years have passed and the evil race fears everything and everybody – especially age. But the three suns are coming together and it is up to one man from an extinct race called the Gelfling’s to restore the crystal to it’s proper form. Throughout Jen’s quest he is met with danger and intrigue as he not only tries to discover what his quest is but also why.

As a movie, The Dark Crystal is very magical. And, short. The story is presented rather quickly and the adventure begins with little effort. This isn’t a movie where a lot of time will be spend introducing the various characters or the past of the land. The magic is portrayed via little nuances including music, alien vocalization, and visual queues one of which found in Aughra domicile expand our eyes (at least as a child). The danger is presented through the evil beings hench-things that are a cross between an octopus and a black beetle.

Part of the amazement with The Dark Crystal was the fact that now I know that these characters were not camera tricks or special effects that we have grown accustomed to today. They are full sized entity made to contain a human actor inside of them to bring them life. The DVD of The Dark Crystal contains an hour long documentary on the creation of the movie – which allow several inside views into who humans were entombed inside their costumes to bring the characters to life.

Another Jim Henson movie came to the screen latter on – and at least to me personally – steals some of the limelight that The Dark Crystal deserves. That movie is called Labyrinth. Labyrinth is not a bad movie – but it utilizes human characters perhaps in a mean to make the movie more “popular”. From all accounts – The Dark Crystal was a commercial failure. It has a much smaller following than Labyrinth – although The Dark Crystal deserves more prominence and more of a following than Labyrinth.

If you haven’t seen The Dark Crystal – than you are missing out on a gem of a movie. A time where imaginations ran wild, were adventure was plentiful, and were a genius was at work. It’s too bad that he was taken away from this world when he was – who knows what he would of created next. (And, hopefully he would of stopped production on the Muppet babies!). The Dark Crystal has a special place in my imagination. A movie that moved me as a child and continues to move me today. Can’t say that about most films


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD