bc (12/25/82)
I've heard in the last few days that The Dark Crystal is not getting
good promotion because the distributer doesn't know how to promote it,
and reviewers are giving it lukewarm (at best) reviews because they
don't know how to categorize it. So I thought I would proselytize for
the movie a little, hoping that a word of mouth campaign of promotion
would bring some people into the theaters, and help pay back the
people who made this movie.
If its not obvious already, I'll spell it out:
I THINK THE DARK CRYSTAL IS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE !!!
If you enjoy puppetry, fantasy, or visual beauty in movies, I think
you will agree with me. If you go into the theater expecting comedy,
the Muppets, or Disney cuteness, you will be disappointed however.
The Dark Crystal is not a children's story (though my two sons
thoroughly enjoyed it, and want to see it again) nor is it sword and
sorcery of the Mighty Thews the Barbarian school. It is a
Tolkienesque fantasy, with a good bit of violence (not very graphic,
but violence nonetheless), without a single human character. As far
as I could see, there wasn't a single animal or sentient creature
in the movie which was not a puppet of some sort, and it seemed that
most of the plants were puppets too.
The movie is a masterpiece of technique, as one might expect of Jim
Hensen's puppeteers, and Industrial Light and Magic's special effects
wizards (the term fits well here). Moreover, it is visually striking,
thanks largely to Brian Froud's overall design, and one of the best
jobs of color coordination I have seen in a movie. The plot is stock:
the quest to find and use the magical item which will end the reign of
evil; nonetheless, the story carried my interest, and the ending,
though not a vast surprise, was satisfying.
A word of advice: don't wait for The Dark Crystal to get to a cheap
theater with a small screen, or for the cable TV systems to pick it
up. See it in wide screen, while the distribution prints are still in
good shape. The visuals are worth it.
Bruce Cohen
Intel
...{pur-ee,hplabs}!intelqa!omsvax!bcneiman (01/05/83)
In respect to the Dark Crystal, why does everyone think you can
succeed with a movie which spends 20,000,000 dollars on visuals
and $9.95 on plot?
The estimate for the amount spent on plot development was obtained
by pricing the used paperback editions of Lord of the Rings,
Sword of Shanara, and other shopworn fantasies.
The Dark Crystal is just another damn quest fantasy with no
worthwhile messages. I don't require that my entertainment be
meaningful but I'd appreciate originality. How many times must we
put up with "There is a prophecy that the $hero will appear when the
$omen and overthrow the evil dark $adj lords!"
Impressions:
Plot: mindless
Villains: unmotivated evil. more disgusting than evil actually,
Heroes: even more than usually simpleminded/ignorant/powerless.
Dialogue: what dialogue?
Invocation of Sense of Wonder: Nice flora, not enough "Lord's fire",
that is magic.
Special effects: Everything looked like puppets. The light effects
were nothing special and the dark crystal was about
the least impressive hunk of rock I've ever seen.
Summary: Good for kids and very new to fantasy adults.
Wizards was better.
What do you want for $20 million?
A phantasmagoria?
Finagle