Description
Jim Henson's fantasy epic The Dark Crystal doesn't take place a
long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but like Star Wars it
takes the audience to a place that exists only in the imagination
and, for an hour and a half, on the screen. Recalling the worlds of
J.R.R. Tolkien, Henson tells the story of a race of grotesque
birdlike lizards called the Skeksis, gnomish dragons who rule their
fantastic planet with an iron claw. A prophecy tells of a Gelfling
(a small elfin being) who will topple their empire, so in their
reign of terror they have exterminated the race, or so they think.
The orphan Jen, raised in solitude by a race of peace-loving
wizards called the Mystics, embarks on a quest to find the missing
shard of the Dark Crystal (which gives the Skeksis their power) and
restore the balance of the universe. Henson and codirector Frank Oz
have pushed puppetry into a new direction: traditional puppets,
marionettes, giant bodysuits, and mechanical constructions are
mixed seamlessly in a fantasy world of towering castles, simple
huts, dank caves, a giant clockwork observatory, and a magnificent
landscape that seem to have leaped off the pages of a storybook.
Muppet fans will recognize many of the voice actors--a few
characters sound awfully close to familiar comic creations--but
otherwise it's a completely alien world made familiar by a mythic
quest that resonates through stories over the ages. --Sean Axmaker
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