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Thursday 18 November 2010

Film Review - The Dark Crystal 1982


In 1982 Jim Henson and Franz Oz created The Dark Crystal a feature length fantasy film. Henson and Oz are the creators of the Muppet's and with the help of artist Brian Froud they created The Dark Crystal. A film that’s whole cast are all puppets and have the ability to scary you because they are amazingly made.

More than one thousand years ago the magic dark crystal was damaged and two different races appeared the wise and gentle Mystics and the cruel Skekses. As time has past by the world was plunged into despair as the Skekses use the land for their own benefit.  Bu the time has come for the triple suns of the world to come together in the Great Conjunction. This will allow the Skekses to achieve immortality and the planet will be stuck in the twisted empire that thy have been living up till now. So it is up to Jen the Gelfling the very last of his race to stop this from happening by sent on a mission by one of the Mystics that took him in when he was a baby. To find the missing shard of the dark crystal and put it back so that it will restore the balance of the universe.

The film basically uses the plot that most film use that the good guys (Jen) and bad guys (Skekses) battle to the end. With the good guy wining and the bad guy gets what he deserves. The thing with The Dark Crystal is that even though it uses this plot what makes it so original to other films is it amazing imagery. Even more incredible: the puppets enhance what is otherwise only an average story.”


The Dark Crystal is a gripping film that works on different level as for kids as well as adults. “What makes this so distinctive and why it manages to hold such strong memories from childhood is all down to the imagery” For kids the film can be seen as scary because of the graphic nature of the darker elements of the film and not to mention the some of the puppets themselves. For Adults the story mite sound boring but it is the puppets and the imagery that capture their attention.

 

The world is divided into two the Mystics and the Skekses and in the film “There are clear political parallels between the leading races”. The Skekses are evil creatures who use the world’s power of natural resources for themselves. The Skekses drain the vital essence of the pod people and anyone else so that they stay strong and young. The Mystics are the total opposite they are intended to be wise and gentle creatures. They do nothing and to bring them down before the great conjunction they summons Jen to defeat there enemies. Also the way that the creatures are designed so well that the Skekses are disgusting looking creatures and the Mystics are these big fluff creatures. So the way that they were design you can just see who is evil or good.



This film takes you average story but makes that it;s own by make the film with puppets rather than actors. "These technical specs alone make Crystal a rare cinematic achievement."  The puppet themselves are quite nightmarish and with the use of these the story then has this darker element to it. Making a film like this with puppets and amazing set pieces are what made this film original to films that were made around this time. 

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