Labyrinth is out now in cinemas for its 40th Anniversary, and is a film I’ve never seen before, despite all this time, but like The Goonies, I figured that as it was getting closer to the time, I’d hold out for a showing, and it came.
It’s technically not quite yet the time, given that while the year was 1986, the US got this in June, and the UK that December, so it’s just over 39 years. Still, this weekend marked the tenth anniversary of David Bowie‘s passing, and on the same date, the eleventh for my Dad. Given that they went on the same date and my Dad went first, I figure that wherever they are, Dad gets to show Bowie around.
As a teenager, Sarah’s (Jennifer Connelly – Top Gun Maverick) sick of staying home all the time, having to babysit her little brother, Toby (Toby Froud), and wishes he would be taken away… hence, because reasons, Goblin King Jareth (Bowie) immediately kidnaps him, courtesy of his minions, taking him back to his castle, beyond the goblin city.
Hence, if she wants him back – and not to get into trub with her parents – Sarah has 13 hours to get through the titular Labyrinth, with the help of lumbering troll Ludo, and Hoggle, a fairy exterminator, who’s more of a hinderance than a help. However, there are hidden doors and the maze keeps changing around, including a clever sequence late on, which feels like a series of Escher paintings, and I see they had to get permission from the artist’s estate for that.
Labyrinth is certainly well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before, given the inventiveness of what’s on display from Jim Henson and his team, such as talking walls, and the ‘helping hands’, plus while this is like the Muppet Show with David Bowie – with him camping it up as the Goblin King, even if he is acting like Jimmy Savile, stealing children, plot-wise, it’s all just a bit random, very much like The NeverEnding Story.
Additionally, Hoggle occasionally gets misnamed as Hogwarts. Did that inspire the name of the school in the Harry Potter series, for transphobe JK Rowling?
When it comes to the age-old problem of trying to work out which of 2 doors to go through, one of who tells the truth, and the other who lies… the answer is to ask either one of them, “If I ask the other door which is the safe one to go through, what will they say?” and then go through the other one.
Music-wise, the film features Bowie’s music tracks Underground and As The World Falls Down, both of which are superb.
As an aside, Toby Froud, who was a mere baby at the time of filming, hence playing… well, a baby, later went on to work on many films and TV series in the art and animation departments, including the Henson spin-off series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It was a shame we never got a sequel to that.
Labyrinth is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 101 minutes
Release date: January 9th 2026
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Dolby Vision, Anamorphic J-D-C Scope)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7/10
Director: Jim Henson
Producer: Eric Rattray
Screenplay: Terry Jones
Music: Trevor Jones
Cast:
Sarah: Jennifer Connelly
Jareth: David Bowie
Toby: Toby Froud
Stepmother: Shelley Thompson
Father: Christopher Malcolm
Fairy: Natalie Finland
Hoggle: Shari Weiser
Hoggle voice:
Ludo: Rob Mills
Ludo voice: Ron Mueck
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.