The Dark Crystal (1982): Who TF let me watch this?????
I have only seen this movie twice. It's due for a rewatch (obviously), but I want to tell you the story of the first time I saw this movie.
I was a small child, around 6 or 7, and I was taking tap dancing lessons at the local Boys and Girls Club because my grandma wanted to play Ms. Pac-Man (this is a true story). Needless to say, I was wholly disinterested in it by the point where this story takes place. We had been practicing for a Christmas show in a room where the entire season the kids who were Boys and Girls Club kids proper (not just ones who were taking dance classes there) had been making Halloween crafts. Halloween crafts, like making one's own cemetery (perhaps where my deep dislike of the expression 'RIP" comes from), were vastly more interesting than the tutus.
The actual performance itself is a blur. I don't remember anything about it, other than the bright lights, being on stage, and hating whatever stupid Christmas song we were performing to.
What I very vividly remember, is that for some reason, they thought a great movie to show 5-7 year olds waiting for their first scary dance performance was The Dark Crystal. Of course, we had to go on before we got to see the ending of the film, which involves a (spoiler) very serious and traumatic main character death (and being taken to go on stage before finding out what really happens).
Holy Mother of God, who TF thought this was a good idea?
Everything in this incredibly magical (for truly lack of a better word) world Henson and Oz had created was designed by genius fantasy illustrator Brian Froud. It's also proof that practical effects are just infinitely more compelling and believable than CGI garbage. Practical effects also hold up better as time goes on, versus CGI which looks instantly dated within so much as days since it has been rendered.
Needless to say, I don't think I am ever recovered from this. The last time I saw this film, it was in 2011 right before my ill-fated trek to Portland. It's certainly due for a hunker down type of rewatch. This movie has such a (well-deserved) cult following, I know that I am long-overdue
That being said, I haven't seen the new The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, either.