The Reel Rejects - LABYRINTH (1986) MOVIE REVIEW!!!!

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

DAVID BOWIE AS THE GOBLIN KING!!! Labyrinth Full Movie Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Gift Someone (Or Yourself) An RR Tee! https://shorturl.at/hekk2 Coy & Roxy embark on a CLASSIC '80s Fantasy as they give their Labyrinth Full Movie Reaction, Breakdown, Analysis, Commentary & Spoiler Review! Roxy Striar & Coy Jandreau react to Labyrinth (1986), the beloved fantasy cult classic directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas, a film that blends fairy-tale adventure, surreal imagination, and iconic musical moments into one of the most enduring fantasy experiences of the 1980s. The story follows Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly – The Rocketeer, Requiem for a Dream), a headstrong teenager who accidentally wishes her baby brother away and must journey through a magical, ever-shifting labyrinth to rescue him before time runs out. Ruling over this strange world is Jareth the Goblin King, played by David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Prestige), whose charismatic menace, elaborate costumes, and musical numbers have made him one of fantasy cinema’s most unforgettable villains. As Sarah navigates riddles, traps, and bizarre creatures, she encounters loyal allies like Hoggle (Brian Henson – Return to Oz), Ludo (Ron Mueck – creature performance legend), and the chivalrous fox knight Sir Didymus (David Shaughnessy – Star Trek: Voyager). Iconic moments include Bowie’s electrifying opening number “Magic Dance,” the Escher-inspired staircase illusion, the Fireys’ anarchic dance sequence, the haunting “As the World Falls Down” ballroom fantasy, and Sarah’s final declaration of independence that redefines the film’s fairy-tale moral. With Jim Henson’s groundbreaking puppetry, Brian Froud’s creature designs, and a timeless coming-of-age message, Labyrinth remains a cherished fantasy touchstone that continues to captivate new generations. Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w Follow Roxy Striar YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TheWhirlGirls Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roxystriar/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/roxystriar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm excited for them to watch us be excited. We're diving into Labyrinth in three, two. All right, well, that's hysterical. Was Labyrinth a movie, Roxy, didn't even know existed until an hour and 45 minutes ago? No idea. We have just experienced Labyrinth for pretty much the first time as an adult and the very first time for me, to thank the fine folks at prepper for editing this down and editing that i want to think the fine folks that are patrons for watching this in its entirety like you were sitting on the couch next to us

there's also exclusive watch longs over on patreon that john and greg do just for those rejects any good discounts on teas like these we're going to get to the patreon questions here in a second because you guys guide the conversation we appreciate your questions help us know what to talk about we're going to get to those in a moment but first for your first labyrinth experience what are your initial thoughts. Man, this is so up my alley. I understand why Greg said, like, I saved this reaction for you because I can't believe I didn't know this existed. That's bold. I'm a huge, huge Wizard of Oz girl. That's probably, and I'm a musical theater girl. So, like, not that this was, it's hard to refer to this as a musical because it's not, because nobody's ever

singing. Like, it's not. Oh, in mouths and his own words. Right, right. So there's like one song. It's very music based, though. So I could understand why somebody, would call it that but the Wizard of Oz references are so um there's so many parallels obviously they do that on purpose it's not like you're they're clearly paying homage um which is great and then on top of that i'm a big bowie fan and uh it's really cool to see when somebody gets their start like jennifer conley just her natural instincts are so strong so this is super duper up my alley um i i want to say it didn't disappoint but that would be the wrong thing because i had no expectations yeah i get why some people think this is their favorite movie that's i mean like

there are a million like this is a huge thing in pop culture yeah i get that how did you feel it was fun it was weird because i hadn't seen it since i was so young that there were moments that feel like almost like when you read a kid's book that you read as a kid to like someone else like i remembered images but not context for anything so like you didn't remember a lot of the character i didn't remember anything i didn't remember any of the characters journeys but i remembered like the images of that like clearly the long thing in the labyrinth left to mark because that was one of the strongest images um i remembered kind of her bedroom um i remembered like the the distortion of time and space because i remember being confused that's about it so like it was cool because

those are just fragments of ideas of memories so i got to you know re-experienced something in a very different way because this was on a lot when i was a kid my my parents are big uh dark crystal and jim henson and like they're into that world a lot like they're my parents are artists so when they came out here I brought them to henson studios and like I have friends that work for hinson so I got to show them like this world and they were so excited because obviously when I was this age they were in their 20s because my parents had me so young I know I know so they would have been the perfect age for this so like I think that was really special to watch and understand the context of my parents loving the hensens because this would have been why they showed me it so it's

cool to be an adult and revisit something my parents clearly wanted me to like live did they say that they love this movie do you know yeah I know they do because they're and dark crystal we're on all the time wow uh we're also a big fifth element house which has a lot of cool puppetry we also like wing commander which is a lot of cool puppetry haven't seen haven't seen whoa there's so much cool puppetry you haven't seen yeah i miss i have a big wing commander is matt lillard and freddie prince junior that's cool and they're awesome in it so um i was in a movie mccher i call i said it like c c i was close i was like e i was close i was in a six sorry those things i wanted a catch.

It was in a movie last year that was called Crest that the main character is a, is a puppet. And it's a sock puppet that the woman that puppeteered it was from Jim Henson's company. And so I spent a lot of time asking her about it and like as she would like fix it up. They're like one man bands. Like she would like come with her sewing glue, like all this stuff. And then she would do it. And it was about like 45 pounds. Wow.

It was heavy. Yeah. And I would have a hard time lift. This girl was under table. through the like whatever watching go i went on set every day even when i wasn't shooting because i i thought it was so cool to watch and watching how she would maneuver it just give me so much of more respect and i i want to watch more thing with puppets because it is like the hardest thing you could possibly do i mean that's sorry i know some people

don't understand hyperbole yes exactly i understand people work on oil rigs and anything anyone's ever done i think that it's harder than what i do let me say that like even just lifting something I mean, it's hours and hours, it's 12 hours a day, and, like, figure out every facial move and all of the stuff. And being coordinated while it's that heavy while, sometimes even, like, emoting and speaking and acting. Right. And I did not realize. And knowing the angles. Like, that they make their pup, they do the puppet.

It's really crazy. So watching this, I feel like I had a new respect for a lot of them and seeing just, like, the emotions in the puppet. It's so cool. And 86. Like, I'm trying to see how old Jennifer Connolly is because she was, like, starting her career, obviously. I lost my phone somehow. Um, but like I have no idea, um, like, you know, how far along Bowie into his career, obviously, like he's around in the 70s. So he's first built and he's established, but this might have been Jennifer Connolly's first thing. How old was she? This is what we need to know. Yeah, I'm curious. Okay. So, and also I need to know about the glitter. That these are the two important things and then we'll get to patron questions. Uh, Jennifer. Okay. I'm looking up labyrinth. What year did this movie come out? 86. And she was born in 1970. So she would have been 15, and they filmed at 16 when it came out.

Okay. So I was right, like I said, 14, 15, I think. Yeah, you did. That makes it a little weird, but there was never any, like, line crossing, so, you know. Yeah, that's true. I can't believe how long she's been at this for. Yeah, since, I mean, 86.

Oh, yeah, I didn't look at what her first credit was. But, yeah, I mean, she was so impressive, like you said, her instincts, her sensational, and just her presence. Like, she has to lead a whole movie, and it's got to be, like, whimsical and balancing tones, and there's so much going on. Like just magnetic.

I need to know, this is my actual Google search. How did they do the glitter in labyrinth? I am fascinated by the response because I'm not sure that is a commonly Googled question. This is sorry, this is AI. Oh. The glitter and crystal ball magic in labyrinth wasn't CGI. Thank you. Thanks.

In 1986, it wasn't computer generated because computers were the size of rooms. It was achieved with practical effects and master juggler, Michael Mooshin, who stood behind David Bowie, hidden by his cloak performing intricate contact juggling with his arms how crazy is that okay but that was with that the illusion

I want to know about this was her seventh credit so she had done six things she'd been in something in 19 she'd been in a show in 82 a Duran Duran music video yeah so Jennifer Connolly killing it people also ask how much glitter did they use in Labyrinth

here's the answer to that while there's no exact measurement Labyrinth used a massive almost uncountable amount of glitter and sparkle effects, particularly for Jarrett the Goblin King's costumes like his feathered sleeves and shiny tights and for magic effects contributing to the iconic fantasy look

with puppeteer Brian Fraud and designers creating countless sparkling elements through the precise quantity, though the precise quantity remains. A delightful mystery, much like the movie itself. That's a cute answer. Yeah, it is. I'm just obsessed with the glitter. I'm sure the comments are like,

why the fuck can't she stop talking about the glitter? Why much glitter? How did they do the glitter? I just, I love the glitter. I'm a glitter girl. You're a musical theater kid. Yeah, totally. The owl in the title sequence is computer generated. The first attempt at a photorealistic CGI animal character and a feature film.

That's cool. I mean, it didn't look photorealistic. Why didn't you respond like that to my glitter? Glitter is the cool. That's the lead of the film. Glitter, Bowie Connolly. Duh. Huh.

Yeah, obviously. Well, those were our initial labyrinth thoughts. I want to know what you guys want to know. from us let's check out the patreon questions let's do it dude i'm curious first up we got brie garcia thank you brie wow i can't believe you guys are watching one of my all-time favorite movies like i said millions of people some people think i've tried to show the film tour and i'll put off by the puppets especially seeing them in 4k now as opposed to greeny tv set from the 80s how did the practical effects and puppetry land for y'all without nostalgia perfectly i couldn't have liked it

better there there was like no moments even when things looked a little funny it's The 80s. Whimsy. Yeah. Perfect. I'm glad I didn't watch it necessarily in 4K. We streamed it. I imagine it looks better on an old TV.

Something I've been thinking about doing, and this is me being a millennial weirdo, is I want to get older TVs for, like, some of my TV watching, so I can watch stuff on VHS, and I can watch stuff that isn't. Sometimes when you upgrade stuff too much, it does take some of the magic away. One of the things, me and my fiance are talking about doing with our kids, we don't have kids yet, but when we have kids is I want to raise them on. 80s and 90s TV because it's less stimulating and it's less like schizophrenic and messy and I think that is a better way like the pacing of this is so different than today's kids movies but I also think

like older tech is a little cleaner um so I want less screens that are like modern stuff and having an old TV and the VHS players one of the things I want to do so I would like to watch this like this or less res so it feels more magical and and you know I feel you on that like the TV thickness should be at least a foot yeah yeah I need not be able to lift that fuck Yeah, you remember that man? It was so dope and like the ones that were like a VCR underneath the TV and the kitchens of course The kitchen TV which was the screen was six and a half inches And it was just as thick

Super thick and like the ones when my first friend got like a TV in his car like for the back seat that was like oh your friend's rich Do you remember The first time they put out those little DVD players? Change lives and like vans and stuff it was crazy work It was like you flip it open it was amazing yeah that's what I want I don't know. Captain Fernandez. Thank you for the question. They have been trying to make a sequel for years and now it looks like Robert Eggers has been tapped to direct it. Given that David Bowie has not only were with us, do you think a sequel should pick up with the original left off or go to a new direction with different characters? I kind of don't feel like this lends itself to a sequel. I understand why they'd want to do it, but like is the sequel, Jennifer Conley has a kid and the kid wishes something and then they go and it's not David.

in Bowie and instead of somebody else. I had a cough and then read Jay Rushin's question, which we're going to get to, and it threw me completely off because I was just thinking like, what would I want a sequel to be? And all of the things in that were like so flabbercasting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see that. I think Robert Eggers would do a really dark sinister take. That would not be like a sequel. It would be like a kidnapped baby in a demonic world.

Like Robert Eggers doesn't speak whimsy to me. Yeah, that's true. So I'm okay with the sequel, but kind of it's like just. do a different movie then yeah i would i would just say like if you're going to do a sequel do alien to aliens but even more extremely different yeah okay like in the world of labyrinth it would actually you haven't seen it but be more like pans labr but yeah uh robert eggers i've heard that as well um i know there's been a lot of different directors attached over the years i don't know if them having him attached as he more real than the others i don't know where it stands but i love bowie as this

character and i didn't remember why i did have that instinct but i love boi so i think that'll be hard for a lot of people that are really attached, but we'll see. All right, Nikki Sunrisa, thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed the movie, such an iconic 80s movie that helped raise us millennials. What's your favorite song from the movie? Well, it's like all the songs that I love kind of actually have a little bit of darker lyrics about having a crush on a kid. The Babe, yeah, the Babe. Well, the Power of Voodoo.

I think that was about the baby. Remind me of the babe. Okay, good. So I think that's my favorite. I also think it's a good. about a baby. Yeah. Hopefully.

Voodoo. And also that's the only one that I kind of like have an inkling of like, I think I've heard that in the wild. Like that song has a little resonance. Yeah.

And then our last one here, Jay Russian, this is what made me laugh cough a second ago because I was trying to imagine it. Thank you, J. Russian. Question. Who do you cast in Labyrinth?

Updated my choice is weird main role Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga for the Goblin Queen used. I was picturing Sabrina Carpenter and all of her like music videos and her like pin up thing. and just picturing her like in labyrinth and it was such an odd.

But Jennifer Connolly does have that kind of like innocent 50s. Like I think of her in the Rocketeer. So I can see the Jennifer Connolly into Sabrina Carpenter like type parallel. But I can't picture Sabrina Carpenter in this world because I think of her as a pop star more than a,

and I know she acts, but that was my, that was my giggle laugh. I kind of feel like, like Queen Latifah could be a good David Bowie role. I mean, I see the Gaga. The Gaga one,

I see too, but it depends on what direction we're going in. It has to be somebody larger than life. A hundred percent. We can't see if it's definitely larger than life. Yeah, that's like why. So is Lady Gaga. She, Lady Gaga is larger than life. She's a good casting

choice. I don't see the Sabrina one as much. Also because the age purpose, like this still needs to be like dream and young. Obviously, like that immediately leaves me with like a Millie Bobby Brown maybe even

somebody younger trying to think of the um it's like a mya hawk maybe she's a little told now i can't it depends on what the story is right because if it's supposed to be like your dream you know yeah young young um there you yeah you're watching it because i know you're putting out things so much it's the greatest ever so like it's my second favorite show the year amazing too though that in the studio the little girl who does ronnie yeah she would be awesome yeah i don't know what the actress's name is or even like she was from it the movie but sophia lilith yeah yeah yeah super good um but as far as jareth chris tucker that's interesting different take but like big and larger than like you know what who i'm trying to think of like if we wanted to do a one-to-one comparison who is the david bowie of right now

like who our our boy david desmalshan he's got a coolness no but he's got such a like a he for sure would be amazing but they wouldn't be able to do like the singing yeah i'm trying to think of like who do who do we have right now i mean i uh austin butler but the singing part he sings he's elvis the the putting out music part i mean like doing the soundtrack you got i see i see like making original songs right like who do we have that is a primarily a composer like will smith that would be wild that's what made me think like yeah maybe gaga Yeah, Gaga. That's a good poll.

Yeah. We've got some weird movies just in the last five minutes. Leave comments about it because we really don't have rock stars in the same way. I mean, like Mick Jagger, but like he's... I think he's being held together with tape. Older. I think you'd have to puppet him. Certainly older with that.

It'd be a lot of puppetry in the movie if they also made Jerrith. Like Stevie Nix. Yeah. She did a season of American Horror Story. Okay. And she's witchy woman for sure. but these are people of Bowie's time right we don't have a lot of people

I mean there's a even Will Smiths of not really right now and as far as music I see people on TikTok sometimes I'm like oh that person like Stephen Sanchez he kind of has his own thing going on Benson Boone act exactly like that's crazy

but accurate who's making like this kind of pop whimsy yeah like because I feel like magic moon ride moonrise whatever what do you think about MGK

how crazy would that be i think i love it and i think i'm worried about loving it because he's such a good actor and also he's doing pop stuff the soundtrack of this would be so weird it's like half rap half because this pop stuff is like his last 10 years he hasn't made a rap album in a while i know i know it's also crazy that right now you're like who's our modern bowie okay And on the long enough timeline, we got to MGK. I'm not saying that. I know you're not, but that we don't have anyone we had to go through. And I like MGK.

So. Yeah, that's a weird. That's a weird poll. That's so funny. Okay. All right. There it is. MGK and one of the kids from It in Labyrinth 2, directed by Robert Eggers.

They would be like, what is going on here? Our last one from Hunter Preston. I did it, I scrolled down a little bit. Thank you, Hunter. Roxy, I challenge you to dress of the Goblin King. You can pull it off. How would I do that? Leather jacket, high collar, tights.

It's the flowy shirt. That would be so sick. I honestly think I could. The hair I'd have to get right also. That hair was something. Spiky mullet. I'm kind of into this challenge. Halloween's a good while away.

Yeah, but do you want to know something that I hate about myself? You want to do it like now for no reason? No. Okay. I refuse to not do a sexy holiday. Halloween outfit. That's crazy sexy. I would have to sexify it.

That is, it's tights and leather. What isn't sexy about that? It's the hair. I'm a mostly heterosexual man and I was like, you know what? I can get it. You're right, you're right. I can make it cute. It's like, you're right, you're right.

All right. Let's see if I can pull it off on. That's the gauntlet's been thrown. The leather gauntlet has been thrown. We will see if Roxy can somehow make Jarrett's I feel like he's like a sex symbol. Yeah, it's just a lot of coverage. For now.

Yeah. 2025. Who knows if there's a frilly shirt under the leather? That's what I'm saying. Time will tell. Challenge by Hunter Preston might get your way. Well, that is going to do it. An odd ending to an odd journey.

Yes, yes. Of whimsy, wonder, and puppets. What a time. So glad I revisited that after all these years. So glad I got to share it with Roxy, who had never even known it existed. I like that our probation is over. And now we can watch.

One day we're going to find a Boston movie we haven't seen. I know, but there isn't one yet. There isn't one yet. There is one every time we watch a movie and go, is it Boston? I know. And one day it will be. All right, thank you, patrons.

Thank you, viewers. Thank you, Reject Nation. We'll see you for the next one. Leave some comments. Bye-bye.