Forget Emerald City, and think Bog of Eternal Stench'. Forget the Munchkins, we now have ancient looking dwarfs. Ignore the instruction to follow the yellow brick road' as we are now dealing with a dangerous maze that has to be completed in thirteen hours. Don't worry about Glinda, the good witch, we have our new empathising friend, Hoggle'. Finally for the icing on the cake, let's even forget the Wizard of Oz' himself as now we have David Bowie playing Jareth', a Goblin King'.

What am I talking about? It is of course Jim Henson's Labyrinth' (1986).

The 80's churned out some of the greatest fantasy films of all time a big statement to make but, just to name a few which even people born in the last ten years have probably seen and definitely heard of: Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Alice in Wonderland, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.

Even E.T. is still watched on the TV during Christmas.

Although it may not be a cult film which has carried through generations, to get a clear image and feeling of what the genre of fantasy films meant in the 80's, in my eyes, Labyrinth' is the perfect example.

It provided us with the beautiful female (Jennifer Connelly), the seductive male (if you can take a tights-wearing David Bowie who regards himself as a king of goblins as being seductive), both of whom double up as our goodie' and baddie'. There are mythical, magical and mystical creatures. There is the challenge that has been set that must be completed successfully otherwise our heroine will face dire consequences, this is, the obstacle filled labyrinth which must be completed in thirteen hours otherwise Sarah's baby brother Toby will turn into a goblin. It even has its musical moments.

And true to form, the goodie wins and the baddie is punished, in this case the punishment comes in the form of turning into an owl. Yes, an owl.

You may laugh or roll your eyes but, as ridiculous and humorous as it all sounds, but there is a reason why they are so well heard of and watched. The reason is, fantasy films of the 80's are mesmerising displays of imagination and creativity at their greatest.

Bravo.

Learn more about this author, Sumantha Dutta.
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