The Muppet version of The Wizard of Oz, with additional inspiration from the works of Lewis Carroll and Maurice Sendak. Teenager Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) accidentally says the words that will allow the King of the Goblins (David Bowie) to kidnap her baby brother. To get him back, she must find her way through the labyrinth that surrounds the goblin castle and face the king in his lair. There are some nice visual illusions (though the matte processing is sometimes rocky) along the way, and one vicious conundrum about truth and lies that might take you about 10 minutes to work out. The puppetry animation techniques impressively create a whole range of amusing characters, especially a jousting fox with Basil Brush voice whose steed is an Old English sheepdog. But Bowie's songs slow the film up badly and his speaking voice doesn't fit the role of the goblin ruler. Connelly is, with her dark hair and eyes and the right aura of innocence, visually perfect as the heroine, even if her lipstick comes and goes from shot to shot! Too slow for young children, the film's ideal appeal is to sub-teens.


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