I remain a big fan of the original 1982 visionary fantasy film The Dark Crystal, co-directed by muppet master Jim Henson and yoda-man Frank Oz. These were the days of realistic fantasy film-making, and as a result we got stories steeped in atmosphere (not CGI) that have stood the test of time.
It’s good that Frank Oz, Brian Froud (artist) and Trevor Jones (music) are all alive today, plus others, so hopefully they’ll be pleased with what this production does, and how in many ways it’s tried to keep in tune, after such a gap. As far as I can see, none of them were directly involved though.
The fact that it will be a prequel makes a lot of sense, as there was a lot of mystery surrounding the past of the Gelfling culture and how the castle fell to the twisted Skeksis. Done well, it could add a lot of depth to the first film. I also love the (hippy-ish, but now even more relevant) themes concerning energy, light and dark, corruption and power… and how all things are interconnected.
We’ll get some masterful voice talents here including Mark Hamill, Helena Bonham-Carter, Eddie Izzard, Jason Isaacs, Simon Pegg, Mark Strong and Natalie Dormer.
Before Jim Henson, puppetry had never been done so well, or on a big screen, placed in such lavish and realistic environments. All this brought to kid’s eyes a high degree of realism, fear even, but mostly just awe at the array of live-animated creatures as either monstrous predators or friendly prey, all entangled in this strange but familiar, fairy-tale world of danger, destiny and possibility. Good preparation for real life perhaps.
Trailers....
For the original trailer, the new trailer, the game trailer and hour-long making of original film, see full post at Ade's Crypto Press.....
A further article is published on Prizes Drop.com...
@ade-greenwise / Ade's Crypto Press blog