Labyrinth: 35th Anniversary Special Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Labyrinth: 35th Anniversary Special Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

​

Movie
Labyrinth marks the final feature film of the late great filmmaker, Jim Henson. Filmed just 4 years before his death, it marks the end of a generation of puppet created wizardry that is incredibly loved to this very day. While not as deep or introspective as “The Dark Crystal”, or as intrinsically childlike and goofy as “The Muppets”, Labyrinth is still one of his most famous movies. My wife has seen the stinking thing so many times that this is now the 5th edition of the movie that has graced my humble shelves. Her love is so much so that her 30th birthday party was a Labyrinth themed costume party, wherein she played a gender bending version of the Goblin King herself. My love is not AS strong as my lovely bride’s is, but I still have to say that the movie holds a special place in my heart, as I grew up as a young child watching it over and over on VHS and TV.

Young Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) finds that her life is not exactly what she wanted it to be. 17 years old and living with her father and stepmother, she selfishly longs for the days when she was the center of attention. Loathing the focus that her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud) gets, Sarah, in all her overly dramatic ways, wishes that the Goblins (characters in a fantasy she’s obsessed with) would come and take him away. Low and behold, her wish is granted. Only she finds out that maybe, just maybe, she really didn’t want him gone. Now the only thing she can do is follow the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) back to his world and make her way through the giant Labyrinth surrounding his castle in order to bring Toby back to her world before he’s turned into a goblin himself.

But getting through the Labyrinth isn’t as easy as it looks from the outside. The maze is gigantic and fully of traps, not to mention the fact that it changes its patterns seemingly at whim. The only way through the maze happens to be Sarah letting go of her arrogance and pride, and actually trusting a few friends along the way. Meeting up with a grump dwarf named Hoggle (Brian Henson), a “thing” called Ludo, and a posh British sounding fox named Didymus, she just might make it to the Goblin King himself before its too late.

Labyrinth is a delightful fantasy romp that follows the usual Jim Henson pattern of intertwining something more adult with the obviously child audience of the outer trappings of the film. On the surface Labyrinth is nothing but a children’s fantasy, much like “Wizard of Oz” and the like (well, that and an excuse to have the then incredibly popular David Bowie singing his heart out). However, under the surface we have a coming of age story where Sarah learns about actually growing up. At the beginning Sarah is wildly selfish. Putting her needs above Toby’s and self-pitying, she causes this whole mess by summoning the Goblin King. However, as she progresses throughout the movie she has to learn humility, kindness and realizing that the childish things that she put so much love into at the beginning were just junk in reality. HOWEVER, in true Henson flair, Labyrinth does not condemn everything in our childhood. No matter how much we grow up, there is always a place in our hearts for fantasy, and adventure. Something that is driven home with the final scene of the movie.

While the love for Labyrinth is strong, it also is the least polished of all of Henson’s work. Although that is not in any way diminishing the fantastic work that it is. The movie has a decidedly dated feeling to it, especially for those of who grew up in the 80s and looking back can acknowledge the fact that many of the elements that made the film so great to us were relevant mainly IN the 80s. The constant use of David Bowie as a walking music video was something that was very popular back then, and seems kind of cheesy nowadays, not to mention the coming of age story was also something that thrived in that past decade as well. The movie is simple and sweet, but simple nonetheless. Still, despite the obvious 80s tropes and dating, it is a fun movie that still is a blast to watch some 30 years later, and I love introducing new people to the film and watch them fall in love with it the same way I did as a kid.




Rated PG by the MPAA, Parental Guidance suggested




4K Video: Video:

This 35th edition from Sony is from the same new 4K remaster that the 30th anniversary edition Blu-ray and 4K UHD were both struck from, with both a new Blu-ray and 4K UltraHD Blu-ray struck from the mint. I luckily still my 2009 Blu-ray (and the superbit DVD I might add) of the film so I could do an A/B of the older print vs. this one, and I have to say the results are amazing. Labyrinth has always look good on Blu-ray, but this new 4K edition is a cut above. Colors are richer and more vibrant, and the scratches and visual specks on the print have all but been eliminated. Sometimes there is still some softness to the image, but that’s just because of trying to blend animatronics and special effects wizardry into the real world (or more like blending a bit of the real world into IT). Black levels are sickeningly deep, and the fine detail is exquisite. I looked for digital artifacting in the transfer, and have to say that this is one nice looking disc. Sharper, clearer, and more vivid, it brings a classic film into the 21st century with a transfer that easily outclasses the earlier releases, both on Blu-ray and the slightly superior 4K edition.

Now the only real change to this disc's video from the one 5 years ago is the addition of Dolby Vision vs. just "plain" old HDR. As we all know Dolby Vision is slightly superior, technically speaking, to HDR, but the differences are usually slight. The same goes for this release which looks REALLY similar to the previous release, but upon really closely scrutinizing the two discs back to back you can see the differences. Most of the differences are in the black levels, which pop just a bit more and seem just a tad richer. Primary colors can look slightly deeper as well. It's more natural seeming in my personal opinion, but isn't a massive change from the already stunning 30th Anniversary Edition either, but rather a slightly more refined edition of the same disc for those who are Dolby Vision capable







Audio:

It goes without saying that Labyrinth was never mixed with Atmos in mind. The 2009 disc was given a very very nice 5.1 Dolby TrueHD encode (actually it had TrueHD on several languages, something that is only given to the English track in this instance), but one that enhanced by the remixing into an Atmos track (or 7.1 TrueHD if you don’t have the appropriate Atmos gear) for the 4K disc in 2016, and re-replicated here.. Dialog is always crisp and clear, while the surrounds get a HEFTY workout from the maze and the associated traps, characters and settings within. The bog of eternal stench is alive with the sounds of little farts, or the clattering of rocks that Ludo calls down upon the goblin army at the end. Sadly we don’t get a lot of height action, but there is some use with David Bowie music strewn throughout. LFE is tight and punchy, adding mild weight when needed, but then expanding into a powerhouse during certain scenes. The bog of eternal stench where the rock falls from underneath Hoggle, or the crashing of the giant Gollum near the end spring to mind as some of the most powerful. This isn’t the BEST Atmos track known to man, but it is a solid improvement over the old 5.1 track, and a worth addition for anyone looking to collect the film.

What is really a nice addition is that Sony has preserved the 5.1 mix (this time just put in a DTS-HD MA encoding wrapper vs. the Dolby TrueHD of the old Blu-ray) AAAAAAAAAAAAND for the first time has given us the original 2.0 audio in lossless!! I can't tell you how excited that makes me feel as people have been begging for the original audio for years, and usually when studios put the original audio track on a disc as an option it's lossy dolby digital instead of lossless. Bravo Sony, Bravo





Extras:

4K UHD
• Dolby Vision Presentation of the Film
• NEW: Deleted & Alternate Scene Oubliette
• NEW Over 25 minutes of never-before-seen lost and alternate scenes, with all-new commentary from Brian Henson!
• NEW: Sarah's Screen Tests
• A collection of rare, original screen tests for the role of Sarah! Featuring Molly Ringwald, Trini Alvarado, Tracey Gold, Claudia Wells, Jill Schoelen, Maddie Corman and Danielle von Zerneck

Blu-ray
• "The Henson Legacy" Featurette
• Labyrinth Anniversary Q&A
• "Remembering The Goblin King" Featurette
• The Storytellers (Picture-in-Picture)
• Commentary by Conceptual Designer Brian Froud
• Original Making-of Documentary "Inside The Labyrinth"
• "Journey Through the Labyrinth: Kingdom of Characters" Documentary
• "Journey Through the Labyrinth: The Quest for Goblin City" Documentary
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

Labyrinth is a product of the 80s, but it is a welcome product for those of us who grew up in that era. Filled with wonderful glitz and glamour from the king of style himself, Jim Henson created a cult film that has an ENORMOUS following, even to this day. I reviewed the 30th anniversary 4K UHD back in 2016 and it was a FANTASTIC upgrade from the aging Sony Blu-ray, and while I hate to double dip, this one is an impressively tempting upgrade from the previous 4K UHD as well. The inclusion of Dolby Vision doesn't make the new encode head and shoulders better than the HDR presentation of the 2016 disc, but it adds some nice fine tuning to the image that is appreciable. The real pull for this release is the sheer luxurious nature of the packaging. The leather (like) flip case just looks and feels amazing, and the included art booklet is incredibly well done. I'm usually one to roll my eyes a little bit as special edition packaging like easily damaged steelbooks, but this digibook combined with the new Dolby Vision addition, some brand new extras AND the original 2.0 audio on the disc for the first time? Well, that really REALLY makes this an obvious upgrade for those who bought the 4K UHD 5 years ago. For those who haven't, then this is obviously the best edition to get. Great Buy


Technical Specifications:

Starring: David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Toby Froud
Directed by: Jim Henson
Written by: Jim Henson, Dennis Lee, Terry Jones
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, French, Italian DTS-HD MA 5.1, Czech, German, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin), Turkish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Slovena, Spanish, Spanish (Latin), Swedish, Turkish, Thai
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 17th, 2021

Recommendation: Great Buy

 

[Asere]

Sadly I have only seen clips. I should sit down one day and watch it entirely but I don't know how it will hold up after all these years. Thanks for the review.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I also only saw bits and parts here and there. Will have to view this as well.