'Welcome to the realm of the Goblin King, where walls are doors, doors will lie to you, up is sometimes down, and left is rarely right. Join Sarah in her hero’s quest through the Labyrinth with her band of adventurous new friends as they make their way to the castle beyond the Goblin City in this illustrated movie adaptation the whole family can enjoy. This brand-new edition, adapted by New York Times bestselling author Liz Braswell, brings Jim Henson’s iconic story to life with vibrant art by Andrea Guardino featuring all the imaginative characters and creatures that call the Labyrinth home.'
I can't remember my first experience with Labyrinth, it was a film that I had on VHS, recorded off TV, that was played over and over again. Luckily I was happy to watch it repeatedly, and that it was also my mothers favourite film and so my very early obsession didn't end up driving her insane. Labyrinth was a comfort movie for me, one in which I knew every scene inside and out, knew every line of dialogue, and could happily have on as background noise whilst I did other things because I didn't have to look at the screen to see the film I loved, just hearing it brought those images to life in my head.
Over the years I've come to appreciate it more, thanks to learning that the Goblin King is in fact a very talented musician whose music I also came to adore, and by diving more into the making of the film and the incredible talents at the Jim Henson company who made the amazing creatures and effects; a love that would go on to see their sci-fi television series Farscape become one of my all time favourite shows. Even finding out small things like finding out that Gates McFadden, who played Doctor Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation was the dance choreographer for the film gave me further appreciation for it.
With Labyrinth as one of my all time favourite films I of course leapt at the chance to read the new illustrated novelisation of the film from Titan Books. Adapted by Liz Braswell, and accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Andrea Guardino, the book wonderfully captures the beauty, wonder, and terror of the film perfectly.
The book sticks close to the movie, which doesn't sound too surprising, but when many novelisations of films will include deleted scenes, new dialogue, or bridging scenes that weren't in the actual film it is something to note that this adaptation doesn't do that. It does include things that aren't in the movie, such as giving more focus to Sarah's inner workings, how she's processing the events around her, what she's feeling, as well as tiny details that were in the background of the film such as her mother and her new boyfriend being actors, but these are things that those familiar with the film will know well and will get a lot of enjoyment from their inclusion.
It's also impressive how without having to give long paragraphs of text over to describing every detail of the scenes Braswell is able to translate the feel of the film onto the written page. She's able to make you feel the dreariness and glittery sticky quality of the first part of the labyrinth that Sarah walks through, the bubbling disgust of the Bog of Eternal Stench, or the mind bending physics of the staircase sequence. These moments are also brought to life brilliantly by the illustrations, some of which even get some truly magnificent double page spreads to really show of the scope and grandeur of the story. There are so many moments when reading the book that I found myself thinking that I'd happily frame this are to have on my wall because it so perfectly captures why I adore this film and these characters.
Perhaps the only downside of the book is that it doesn't include the songs, which is honestly completely fair because there's not really any way to make these moments even feel natural in the book, let alone making them as fun as they are in the movie. Then again, I'm happy to lose the fun of Magic Dance if it means I don't have to endure the Fireys singing Chill Down, a sequence that still makes me feel as uncomfortable now as an adult as I did as a kid. The moments where these musical numbers take place are written in a way, however, where they don't feel unusual by their absence, and if you came to the book before reading the film you wouldn't come away from these scenes feeling like there was something missing, or that you didn't understand those moments.
This new novelisation makes for a great adaptation of the film, and it's extra-large size, hardcover, and the beautiful illustrations inside make it feel something special, like some big tome of magic lore that and myth that a parent would take off the shelf to read you to sleep with when you're a child. Whether you're a long time fan of Labyrinth, or if you're relatively unfamiliar with it this book is a perfect way to experience it.
Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Illustrated Novelization is available now from Titan Books.
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