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MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND – Hans Zimmer, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Several years before he and Klaus Badelt effectively redefined the musical sound of the Hollywood swashbuckler with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Hans Zimmer dipped his toes into the genre with a very different kind of pirate movie: Muppet Treasure Island, directed by Brian Henson. It is very loosely based on the famous 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and follows the adventures of young Jim Hawkins, who discovers a mysterious map that leads to a legendary pirate treasure. He joins a sea voyage to search for it, traveling with a crew that includes the charming but mutinous Long John Silver and the more forthright Captain Smollett. As the journey unfolds, Jim realizes not everyone can be trusted, and danger grows as secrets and rival loyalties emerge on the island. The twist, of course, is that the majority of the cast is comprised of members of the Muppets, notably Kermit the Frog as Captain Smollett and Miss Piggy as a gender-swapped Benjamina Gunn, the queen of a native tribe of pigs. The human cast stars young Kevin Bishop as Jim and Tim Curry as Silver, plus Billy Connolly and Jennifer Saunders in supporting roles. Read more…
THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE – Daniel Pemberton, Samuel Sim
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In 1982 the Jim Henson Company released what was, at the time, the most ambitious puppet-centric movie ever made: The Dark Crystal. Despite being a rich fantasy film of evil monsters and gallant heroes, visually stunning and wondrously creative, it was not an immediate success upon its release, with many people considering it much too scary for its young target audience. However, in the intervening 37 years it has become a beloved cult classic, a cultural touchstone for many 1980s children who were left enchanted and terrified in equal measure. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel for decades, but have been forced to be content with various comic books and novels to quench their thirst for additional tales from this universe – until now. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a 10-episode series produced by Netflix which acts as a prequel to the original movie, and with its increased budget actually surpasses the original in terms of its larger scope, richer detailing, brilliant storytelling, and visual majesty. Read more…
LABYRINTH – Trevor Jones
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Labyrinth is a fantasy for children, an allegory about growing up, transitioning from teenager to adult, and assuming responsibility, dressed up as an adventure with monsters and magic. Written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones and directed by Jim Henson, the film stars Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a typical American teenager, frustrated at having to baby-sit her young brother Toby. One night when Toby won’t stop crying, Sarah rashly wishes for Jareth, the Goblin King, to take the baby away – and, shockingly, he does. Jareth, played with dangerous sexuality by David Bowie, magically transports Sarah to his kingdom and tells her that she has thirteen hours to navigate her way through his labyrinth and rescue Toby, or he will be transformed into a goblin. As she makes her way through the maze, Sarah is both helped and hindered by numerous characters, including a cowardly dwarf named Hoggle, a kind-hearted monster named Ludo, and a courageous but rather dimwitted fox named Sir Didymus. The film is visually and conceptually impressive, taking inspiration from artists and authors as varied as M. C. Escher, Maurice Sendak, and Frank Baum, but it was not a success at the time of its release, only becoming a cult hit on VHS in subsequent years. Read more…
MUPPETS FROM SPACE – Jamshied Sharifi, Rupert Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Perhaps it has something to do with my own preconceptions about films starring fuzzy puppets, but I never expect Muppet movies to have any good music in them. Of course, in the past, composers as eminent as Hans Zimmer and the late Miles Goodman have lent their talents to the adventures of Henson’s creations, but come on! How can a film in which the majority of the main characters are sculpted bits of material with a guy’s hand jammed up their asses produce anything worthwhile? Well, it can, and this time I have been proved wrong by the combined talents of Jamshied Sharifi and Rupert Gregson-Williams, whose music turns out to be surprisingly enjoyable, if a little lightweight and more than a little derivative. Read more…
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