The Dark Crystal (1982)

(On Blu-ray, December 2019) Over the years, The Dark Crystal has developed a reputation that probably outstrips its actual value. As part of the early -1980s fantasy boom, it does earn points for trying to do something different and more original than simply filing off the numbers from a fairytale or simply reusing the tropes of heroic fantasy. Here we have a substantial amount of worldbuilding, a sympathetic hero at the opposite end of the muscle-bound Conan, and some interesting variations on the classic light-versus-dark fantasy ur-plot. By betting on puppet-driven actors (there isn’t a single human character here, although from time to time we do feel a jarring feeling in watching actors in suits), writer-director Jim Henson is able to be more ambitious about his world and the characters in it. Additionally, it’s easy to develop an odd kind of affection for the puppet characters of the film, as toothy as their fluffy exterior may not suggest they are. The story itself is nothing special, although it does conclude with an interesting fusion between light and dark rather than outright confrontation. No, the fun of The Dark Crystal is in the visuals, the originality and the sense of comfort that even its peculiar vision offers. It has aged remarkably well in this CGI age, mostly because it has chosen to be stylized from the get-go rather than try to approximate realism with special effects that it could never achieve at the time. The vision on-screen is the one they were aiming for, and the result (along with a less macho take on fantasy) is still quite charming.