The Dark Crystal

The 1982 dark fantasy film, The Dark Crystal, has had an interesting redemption story since its original release. This familiar tale of magic, mystical creatures and prophecies helmed by beloved puppeteers, Jim Henson and Frank Oz, seemed to mirror a lot of similar dark fantasy stories that were coming out at the time, with examples like Labyrinth and The NeverEnding Story producing content clearly meant for children, but contained a darker edge that made it more timeless as well as more appealing to older audiences. Much like what happened to these two films, The Dark Crystal didn’t do great out of the gate, with a mixed reception and underwhelming box office but eventually garnered a cult following over the years, with extended material being conceived and even a Netflix prequel series in 2019 (one that didn’t really materialize into anything, but wasn’t hit with any strong negativity either). However, unlike the two past examples that in spite of their flaws, resulted in overall solid material, The Dark Crystal doesn’t have as many bright spots, so did it truly deserve another chance?

Set in a world full of magical creatures and conflicts, the planet has been ravaged under the rule of the Skeksis, an evil race of skeletal bird creatures that have lived for centuries by using the power of a powerful crystal which birthed them years ago when it fractured. This crack also birthed a more peaceful race known as the Mystics, who live in seclusion with a young Gelfling named Jen (voiced by Stephen Garlick), who was taken in after being the sole survivor of the slaughter of his clan years ago. As his mentor is dying, Jen is told that a prophecy foretells that a Gelfling will heal the broken crystal and rid the world of the Skeksis threat forever, forcing Jen to leave the comfort of his home and set out in order to fulfill the prophecy. Along the way, Jen meets many strange creatures, including another Gelfling named Kira (voiced by Lisa Maxwell) who decides to join Jen on his journey, but these two innocents have become targets of the Skeksis, who will do anything to prevent the prophecy from coming true.

The Dark Crystal has fantastic production value and solid atmosphere, but as its own creation within a genre that is supposed to invite creativity and ingenuity, is insultingly barren with a generic storyline, bland characters, and little in terms of uniqueness.

Being from the mind of Jim Henson, the process that he went through when constructing this story was with the intent of bringing back a dark aspect to children’s media in a way that would challenge them and get them out of their comfort zones in a good way. Ironically, the film’s darker, more oppressive atmosphere was one of the more openly criticized qualities from critics at the time, whilst things like the narrative and characters were heavily praised, but the passage of time and with darker children’s media becoming more accepted, the story and characters are now seen as extremely tired and formulaic, and the darker vibe has held up much better. Given who was working on the film, it almost feels like a form of experimentation for both Henson and Frank Oz, who were known for their wonderfully expressive and creative animatronics and puppet work, and might’ve relished in the thought of using their skills in a medium and genre that could be a little more icky, dramatic and thoughtful (which isn’t a bad idea on paper). It might explain why the story handled by Henson, is laughably simplistic and adopts every stereotypical component you’d expect in a generic fantasy story.

It’s a very quick sit, the screenplay by David Odell  (a writer who worked on The Muppet Show alongside Henson and Oz) is incredibly brisk and strangely isn’t very clear at mapping out an insanely easy-to-follow narrative, the characters are very one-note and aren’t that memorable outside of their designs, the pacing is insanely breezy, and the direction by both Henson and Oz feels more interested in highlighting the visual and atmospheric qualities rather than any of the scripting and storytelling devices, as they are left out to dry with no real support. With that said, despite how utterly lukewarm this film is on every level, it doesn’t do much to warrant much negativity. The film is very quick so at least the viewers can speed through without much halting, there is good atmosphere in both the comforting and threatening portions of the world which results in at least a blandly pleasant experience, and while most of the story is fairly lukewarm and not very engaging, there are a few ideas that aren’t too bad (mostly around the Skeksis and the way that their species operates) and could’ve led to something meaningful and unique if handled better.

Characters within a fantasy story can feel pretty archetypal by today’s standards, but this can be worked around if they are reformed into more fleshed-out distinct characters, but like everything else in this film, it feels like more effort was put into what these characters could represent and look like, rather than what they would actually be like, as their designs are infinitely more thought out than their personalities or goals. They are all very boring, have pathetically simple dialogue, and do nothing outside of the common tropes expected of them within a fantasy story, and even though it is cool that this entire world has no human populace at all and is run by nothing but puppets (which the film was credited for), it can’t escape the fact that none of them are worth remembering outside of that act. The leads are very crippled by a generic delivery, and while their animatronics are decent expressive and mobile on occasion, they are some of the few that feel like dolls rather than living beings, which can be distracting. This could due to the very soulless eyes and glossier faces which are hard to ignore during the close up shots, so a few tweaks might’ve been able to nix these issues (which is bizarre because the puppet for Jen was constructed by Wendy Midener, the woman who created the puppet of Yoda in Empire Strikes Back, so the disconnected is kind of wild).

The best designed characters are fittingly the ones with the most intrigue behind them, that being the villains as the Skeksis may be underwritten as characters and are kept more as illusive figures who never get a full exploration, but are one of the few roles that have any sense of character and have a pretty neat backstory regarding how they connect with the crystal, the world and the Mystics. The puppet work on them is also outstanding, especially in how they express, move and even break apart when they get injured, the crew clearly had the most fun working on them, and it did pay off.  Sadly, not many of them stand out as characters aside from the role of Chamberlin (voiced by Barry Dennen), whose slimy delivery and expression gives him the most noticeably amount of personality, but it’s no surprise that when anyone thinks of this movie, the first thing they recollect are the Skeksis.

While the film is pretty bland when it comes to its storytelling, writing and characters, it does feel like it has a lot of effort put into its visual design. The primary concept for this film was designed by Brian Froud, a fantasy illustrator who worked on projects like the 1978 book, Faeries, by Alan Lee, and also worked as a conceptual designer alongside Jim Henson on Labyrinth, so his unique vision on dark fantasy no doubt assisted with giving this film more of an identity. While it’s hard to claim that it has as much personality as something like Labyrinth, you can feel the attempt to liven up the location, make it feel lived in, contain its own mythos, and doing its best to make all of these unique designs feel like liveable creatures whilst not sacrificing the weird creep factor that went into their construction. This is shown the best with the Skeksis, as it could be argued that there’s better storytelling through the character designs between them and the Mystics than anything within the dialogue; with the Skeksis’ ornate, lavish and gluttonous apparel on top of their frayed, skeleton body structures, contrasting against the Mystics rural, spacious and earthy place of residence with their hefty, furry bodies, it’s a simple but noticeable detail.

The color palette of the environment feels very warm and rusty, giving it a live-in quality which contrasts the villains more black and purple color scheme (which are more industrial and manufactured-looking) very nicely, adding an offsetting and even magical component to a world full of strange creatures and nature. The sets are well constructed, there are several moments where the film remains quiet and allows the ambient sounds of the wildlife to take over and make this world of talking puppets feel genuine, and the musical score by Trevor Jones is appropriately swooping and grand, which does add a dose of weight to a story that arguably doesn’t deserve it.

The Dark Crystal as a property, really doesn’t seem to have that much personality, which is bizarre considering it is helmed by creatives who have a lot of personality. Maybe if it was within the universe of a Muppet sketch where they could simultaneously mock the tropes while also playing some things straight, the simplicity of the writing and characters wouldn’t have been a bother, but the distinct lack of life and humor within any of this script just leaves it feeling like a barren wasteland. There are a few fun ideas as well as a nice dark visual style that makes it at least a little understandable why it garnered a following, but with how boring the story and characters are, it’s hard to imagine anyone taking anything meaningful out of this film outside of how it looks. If this were to be someone’s Labyrinth or The NeverEnding Story, it might hold some nostalgia merit, but outside of that, this is a fairy tale that might be best left forgotten in the pages.