Back to the Labyrinth
Friday, January 24, 2025
Comments: 8 (plus live) (latest 4 days later)
Tagged: labyrinth, david bowie, jennifer connelly, movies, goblins, wishes, mazes
Look, there is only one thing I want from a Labyrinth sequel, and that's Jennifer Connelly as the Goblin Queen... Mother.
I know, it's tricky. David Bowie was this horny teenage fantasy of Magic and Freedom and Romance; he definitely wasn't a father figure. Do we need a retread of that? No.
So Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) as a single mom, frustrated with her teenage kid, and the kid is frustrated with her. The mom is busy with her job and is never home. The daughter wants to run around the back yard and play with her imaginary friends. Sarah is like "Look, I know! I was your age! The stories are important. But you have to do the laundry and make dinner too! Sorry, I have a late meeting, I have to run."
And the daughter screams "Yeah, go! I wish the goblins would come and take me away forever and ever!"
So they do. Welcome to the Labyrinth. But.
Sarah is the Goblin Queen. She always has been. That's her job. "Away at the office" is "off in the Labyrinth". Ever since Jareth disappeared, Sarah hears the wishes and Sarah cannot leave a wish ungranted. "I have done everything you've asked, turned the world upside down for you..." Only now it's her own kid, and what the teenager wants is for some Mom she doesn't know to save her from the Mom she does know, only they're the same person.
And what Mom wants is for her kid to understand that for sixteen years she has had the power to say "I wish the goblins would free me of this child" and she never said it. But now the kid has said it -- which means it has to happen.
And they're both exhausted by living up to each other's expectations.
Whatever they are to each other, it needs to change.
Sound about right?
Comments from Mastodon
@zarfeblong why did she not bring her daughter in the fold much earlier, though? Prepping the princess?
Also, I call that the baby brother grew up to be a pop star
@misuba I would say there's a reason but I haven't dug into the plot that far. Maybe it was a mistake.
> grew up to be a pop star
Ooh, nice! He shouldn't be a big part of the plot though. Phone call from "Uncle Toby" in act 1, just to check in.
@zarfeblong This has to have a scene where Connelly is absent-mindedly packing a briefcase while having a frustrated argument with her daughter, and you just catch her quickly palming a glass sphere into the bag.
Comments from Bluesky
Comments from Mastodon
I... really like this idea. If the actual sequel isn't at least as interesting as this, I am going to be SO disappointed.
(But then I'm prepped to be disappointed anyway... Hoping for the best still, but preparing for the worst.)
Comments from Mastodon (live)
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@zarfeblong That would be fantastic, and it would fit well among the other excellent "family trauma" films that have come out in the past few years.