"It's Only Forever"

The movie “Labyrinth” is one of the greatest movies in the genre of fantasy. Filmed in 1986 and directed by Jim Henson “Labyrinth” has gained a huge cult following. The popularity of the movie is not just claimed by Jim Henson fans but also by David Bowie fans. It’s the type of movie that you can watch over and over as a child and continues to be a favorite through adulthood.

For those people that have not seen “Labyrinth” it stars Jennifer Connelly as Sarah and David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King. Sarah wishes that the Goblin King would come and take her brother away. Sarah is surprised when Jareth appears and takes her brother Toby. In order to save Toby from becoming a goblin Sarah must solve the labyrinth within the given thirteen hours. This means reaching the castle at the center of the labyrinth and facing Jareth. Once in the labyrinth Sarah meets a cast of creatures, some friendlier than others. They include: Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, Ambrosius and more.

“Labyrinth” is my favorite movie of all time, because of this I know a great deal about the movie; even the less known facts. One of the first facts that I love to share about “Labyrinth” is that the owl is the first CGI animal in a movie. The owl appears at the beginning of the movie when Jareth comes to grant Sarah’s wish by taking Toby. The owl is not seen again until the end when it watches Sarah celebrate her victory over Jareth. I know one CGI owl in two scenes does not sound all that important but that one owl opened the door for other animals.

The second fact that most people do not know is that there are seven hidden faces within the labyrinth. There are some people that seem to think this has something to do with David Bowie needing an audience because he is a rock and roll artist, wrong! The faces are placed throughout the labyrinth so that the Goblin King can see what is going on and where his subjects are. For example, there is a scene in which Hoggle is supposed to give Sarah a peach. Hoggle knows the peach will harm Sarah and is having second thoughts about giving it to her. As Hoggle raises his arm to toss the peach the voice of Jareth says “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The camera then pans around to show that Hoggle is alone, however, if you look closely at the scenery you’ll see one of the seven faces.

My third fact about “Labyrinth” is one of the least known of all, Brick Keepers! Brick Keepers are little man-like creatures that are no more than an inch or two tall. These tiny guys are briefly shown flipping the stones Sarah draws arrows on. They do not appear in any other part of the movie and Sarah does not see them, she only sees that they changed her marks. I called them “Brownies” for most of my childhood because I thought they were the same little guys from the movie “Willow.” Years later I learned what they are called from a Jim Henson character encyclopedia.

Now for my fourth fact, every time that Sarah says “It’s a piece of cake” something bad happens. There are two stand out examples of this. First of which is when Sarah chooses between two doors. One door goes to the castle and the other leads to certain doom. When the door she picks opens she says “I think I'm getting smarter. This is a piece of cake!” Then the ground opens and she falls into the oubliette (a place you put someone to forget them).

The next example takes place when Hoggle helps Sarah get out of the oubliette and is leading her through a tunnel system. At this point they come across Jareth in disguise. They have a brief exchange of words that ends with Jareth asking Sarah “How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?” to which she answers, “It’s a piece of cake.” This causes Jareth to release “the cleaners.”

Alright, time for my absolute favorite thing about “Labyrinth.” After escaping “the cleaners” Sarah and Hoggle climb a very tall rickety ladder to get back to the surface. At the top of the ladder Hoggle pushes the door open to climb out. The next thing you see is Hoggle and Sarah climbing out of an urn. The interesting thing people don’t notice is that the urn is on a stand, meaning the bottom isn’t on the ground. It would be like them climbing out of a flower pot on a table. This magic trick is just that, magic. After all, it’s an enchanted labyrinth that is always changing.