The Good
It should go without saying that the puppetry in this movie is amazing. Even now, years later, it still holds up. Jen’s narrative arc is also strong from start to finish, and I really got into it, even though I know how it ends by now.
I loved the creature design of the gelflings—the small, winged species to which Jen belongs. Fizzgig, the little cat-dog pet of another main character, made me cry tears of joy with its antics. The Skeksis are as revolting as I remember, and they made perfect villains for a children’s movie.
I still find them unnerving as an adult.
Another lovely aspect of this film was the cohesive, imaginative, and in-depth worldbuilding that it displayed. You can tell that everything in this fantasy landscape was carefully laid out and planned.
From the mythology that infused it, to the individual customs of each in-world society, to the visual designs of the smallest creatures and plants—nothing was disregarded or left to chance.
The world ofThe Dark Crystalfelt lived in, and it didn’t feel like aLord of the Ringsclone either. This is harder to achieve than it might appear, and it’s the sort of creative worldbuilding that I crave on a regular basis.
It’s also something that’s getting harder to find these days, now that Hollywood has taken to doing remakes and franchise tie-ins.
The Bad
While I appreciate how dark this film is, the movie was originally marketed as age-appropriate for children. This is questionable when the movie explicitly deals with human experimentation, slavery, and genocide.
All the characters in the film are puppets, of course, and these topics are definitely worthy of discussion with an adult audience.
However, the genuinely terrible things that happen to these creatures might be difficult for children to process.
This is especially true if the children watching it don’t have the words or mental fortitude to describe what injustice is on a systemic level. I know that as a child I foundThe Dark Crystalto be upsetting for this reason.
The Verdict
The primary concept artist for this film was Brian Froud, who also collaborated with Jim Henson on the 1986 cult classicLabyrinth.The Dark Crystalis also getting a sequel this year, which will air on Netflix sometime in 2019. I can’t wait.
