Review – The Dark Crystal

If you’re in the mood for some goofy, muppet-intensive fantasy nonsense, well, then you’re in the right place. For the most part the plot here (the usual screed about the forces of good and evil struggling over a crystal that controls the universe) serves as little more than an excuse to string together sets and effects inspired by the artwork of Brian Froud. Downsides include the protagonists (imagine Jon Bon Jovi and Stevie Nicks done up as hobbit puppets and you’ve got the general idea) and Jim Henson Productions’ struggles to distance themselves from Sesame Street by including an inordinate amount of brutal violence. As a result, the production gets wedged into the awkward spot that exists somewhere between “too intense for most pre-teens” and “too muppet-filled for most everyone else.” Mildly amusing