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The Dark Crystal
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›The Dark Crystal (1982) Review@dlstudios2332d
I'm about to start playing the new game, so I thought it would be fun to look back at The Dark Crystal as I've not watched it for a good number of years now. While older than me, it was a film I grew up watching quite a bit, and have always had some fairly fond memories of.
The story is very simple and ends up being a fairly weak aspect of the movie. Something happened that broke a magical crystal, and the life of the world was slowly being drained away. Two races came about when this happened, the Skeksis and the Mystics, light and dark mirrors of each other as it were. There is a prophecy a Gelfling will restore the crystal and end Skeksis rule of the land, and that is the core of the plot with no real twists. You don't go into a Jim Henson movie expecting a strong plot.
That said, the show makes up for a bit of a clique and lackluster plot with some pretty believable characters. Despite being puppets, they all show a pretty impressive array of emotions through their actions and facial expressions, even if at times they come across looking a bit static. The hero feels real as well, getting constantly frustrated with the fate thrust upon him after the man who raised him died. His journey feels like a constant struggle, and it's wonderful to see him continue to fight on regardless. The lacking main plot almost doesn't matter as you care about Jen and his journey.
With that said, even that isn't really the main reason to watch the show, it's just kind of there to give the movie some actual substance, which it does very well. The main draw of the movie comes down to the outstanding visual design. It doesn't matter that everything in the movie is essentially a giant puppet show, it all feels so majestic and foreign. Even though at times the visuals can feel a bit dated, and movements can feel stiff, the imagination and creativity behind every scene is something truly hard to match.
And what's more, is that there is so much variety in what you see. From bright and colorful forest landscapes to the treacherous mountains covered in all kinds of bizarre wildlife and creatures, to the dark caverns and hallways of the Skeksis castle, you really do feel like you've seen a massive expanse in such a short time. It never feels like you are jumping around too quickly either, and the whole world still manages to have a kind of cohesive element that makes it all feel like it does take place in the same world.
This isn't to say the story itself doesn't have it's great points, as mentioned before it does a great job of making you care about Jen. It also does a fairly good job at handling it's side cast, even if at times it feels a little too coincidental they are able to join Jen on his quest. As silly as it can be he just happens to come across the only other living Gelfling and it's a lady, the two have a lot of great chemistry together as characters, and a lot of personality on their own.
The Dark Crystal is worth watching just for the stunning imagery on display, even now it holds up. Back up by an okay story with some very well written characters, it's something worth looking back on. Now let's see if the new game (And one day possibly the Netflix Series if I get around to it) is going to be able to do justice to the original.
›Just finished the 1st episode of The Dark Crystal - an adventure well worth my time@daltono2356d
This Netflix Original Series debuted on Aug 30th, 2019. I am however just now finally watching it on my favorite FREE streaming website flixtor.to
The reason I decided to give the show a chance was because of the 8.6⭐️ review that users left on flixtor.to
The lore from the original 1982 book is very on point here. The characters are incredibly unique & the world is exspansive & delightful. I can say it is unlike anything I have seen before, much like the James Cameron Avatar films bear the beginning of the previous decade.
Check out the trailer for the series by Jim Henson (The Muppets) & perhaps take the time to watch all 10 episodes, even if you don’t have Netflix. flixtor.to has worked well for me for years. You do not even have to create an account.
›The Dark Crystal: One of my favorites from my childhood@gooddream2954d
In my mind I feel as though this film needs no introduction but it is my understanding that there are a few people out there in the world that are a bit younger than I am, so I will go ahead and write this anyway.
it says it's "coming this Christmas" and it can be if you want it to!We all know who Jim Henson is and how he was a genius right? Well he teamed up with Frank Oz and Gary Kurtz (producer of Star Wars) to make this masterpiece that is actually a bit creepy too. I wonder how many other kids out there got nightmares from this thing? I know I did because some of the characters are downright terrifying to a kid. I met a guy about a year ago that still really doesn't like it if you make the sound that Skeksil made in the film. He was nearly 40 when he revealed this to me by accident.
it was a high to low pitch "hmmmmmmmm" soundAnyway, back to the movie. It was very engaging and there are no humans in the movie at all, everything is puppetry and the scenery is just stunning. The basic premise is that Jen, a Gelfling who can play the panflute, has to find and return a crystal shard to the Dark Crystal in order to restore balance to the world. He must do this before the 3 suns align, or the malevolent Skeksis will rule the world. You can determine very quickly that you definitely don't want the Skeksis ruling the world.
it occurred to me while writing the above that I wasn't sure whether Jen was a boy or a girl.. I've come to the conclusion that Jen is actually a very young Steven Tyler from AerosmithThe story is obviously a fantasy story that as a kid you stay interested with despite the fact that you probably don't have the full idea of what is going on. We didn't need to, we were kids. However, as an adult you can appreciate the movie for different reasons. It was 1982, CGI for the most part didn't exist and the dozens of puppets that were in the film all had to be made by designers, normally by hand.
Then it would require multiple people working in tight quarters who all had a coordinated plan, in order to pull of the shots.
makes me claustrophobic just to look at itI was unaware at the time (although it seems so obvious now, that virtually all scenes in this movie (and the Muppet Show and Sesame Street for the matter) had to be shot on raised platforms for the "puppets" to perform on. There are scenes where the particular puppet is on a raised platform but it's far more real when they appear to be standing on the ground. There is a scene in The Dark Crystal where there is actually a battle of sorts called the "Trial by Stone." I can't even imagine how many people it must have taken to film this, or how much time it must have taken.
I saw this film for the first time 35 years ago and still have fond memories of it today. As a matter of fact myself a few friends got together recently and watched it again and it was still entertaining. Probably because CGI from the 80's looks (for the most part) kind of dumb by today's standards but puppetry, well, how do you do that better?
It's my understanding that there is some chatter about remaking this film and I have mixed feelings about this. Jim Henson is no longer with us and I think it might be a little insulting to his legacy if they 1: Made the film much better or 2: make a terrible film that destroyed the memory (think "Clash of the Titans.")
In my opinion they should leave this one alone but well, money.... so they probably wont.
Do you agree with me about this movie? Do you disagree? As always a I welcome your comments.
