The Dark Crystal is Jim Henson at his…well, darkest. Yet aside from the pun, this is also Henson’s most visually spectacular and gorgeous work to date. The artistry of the world’s top puppeteers has formed an amalgamation of style in this movie, creating a world that is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
The plot is a nice slice of dark fantasy, pitting the forces of good and evil against each other in the form of humanoid animals, four-armed shamans, vulture-like demons, and giant crustaceans. The chosen member of an exterminated race must travel to distant lands in order to heal the title Crystal, that was shattered a thousand years ago and split the world into two races. The puppetry here is top notch, especially with the main character Jen, who is also the most human character. Jen’s eye movements, facial expressions, and emotive capabilities are so spot-on that he is nearly one inch from real on the screen.
More than ever before, Henson’s team of puppet wizards has been able to craft strong characters out of cloth, rubber, and wire. The two standouts of The Dark Crystal are the perpetually grumpy soothsayer Ogra, and the gloriously diverse menagerie of evil skeksis. Ogra is magnificently ugly, a rumpled mass of gray flesh and sour disposition that guides Jen in his quest to find a piece to heal the dark crystal. Voiced by the ever-dependable Frank Oz, she is a positive joy to watch on screen as she hurls insults and cryptic riddles. The skeksis are the perfect villains. Hideous, calculating, and cruel, they care for nothing but their own domination of others and the prospect of eternal life.
The sets are lavish, and densely packed with small additions that give a whimsy and reality to Henson’s world. That’s what it is too. It’s an entire fantasy world, built from the ground up, with an uncanny attention to the detail of every plant, flower, and odd creature. White-eyed servants shamble across the dark halls of the skeksi’s castle and giant insects crawl over a dynamic landscape of swamps, deserts, and caverns. The results are nothing short of gorgeous and show that Henson isn’t just the creator of the Muppets, but rather a master at the craft of fantasy.
With the Dark Crystal, Henson has crafted something utterly believable out of unbelievable elements. The result is a perfectly rendered vision of something strangely alien, yet fascinating in its reality.
