The very best fantasy films hypnotize with an aura of uneasy wonder, as though we are observing something foreign yet fundamentally familiar. The Dark Crystal from Jim Henson and Frank Oz is just such a film. Heralded as “the first live-action film with no human characters”, Henson and Oz weave a fabulous aphorism of the duality of human nature set on a scarred, alien world. The result is a piece of magic – a dark fantasy film for children that respects their intellects and emotions and thereby resounds as an absolute classic.
Long-Form Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs