Labyrinth 2 Return to the Labyrinth

[RedPiggy]

I don't think that's the message, though ('course, depends on how far along you are in the story). Yes, our childlike dreams helped influence the world of Labyrinth, but if dreams were only for children, Jareth wouldn't be so obsessed with making Sarah/Toby "grow up." That'd be wishing himself out of existence. Jareth is a strange bird (so to speak): he isn't happy with his job as King, but derides adult Sarah for having an actual job with actual responsibilities. In the movie, he mocked her for her dreams. In RTL, it's more like he can't decide whether he wants her to have the frilly princess crap or not. He wants her to be with him, to share in his kingdom ... but he doesn't even LIKE his kingdom! While the ending can seem ... forced, I feel it is sending an important message: don't knock the day job. Jareth is insulting practically every working schmuck when he insists that only dressing up in fancy costumes and feeding each other grapes in a huge fantasy castle is worth living for. To say that Sarah CAN'T be happy working as a teacher just comes off as a hypocritical insult.

The problem with forcing J/S-shipping is that it ignores part of the issues with the movie: that Jareth represents the guy her mother slept with and left her father for. Sarah resents her father and her stepmother and her stepbrother ... but she SHOULD be mad at her cheating mother, who let Bowie's smexy face kill an entire family life. That's why Jareth taunts her with his rockstar/goblin King routine and constantly threatens her family (Toby). He wants to see if she's going to make the same choices her mother did. Everyone talks of how the property is about Sarah "growing up", but it's actually deeper than that: it's about learning to take responsibility, much like Dorothy had to start appreciating HER family instead of wanting to leave for Oz.

 

[tigger31086]

Alright, I've read all four volumes again and perhaps I was just in the moment when I wrote my response. The books were absolutely terrible and I still think Sarah was turning her back on her dreams. Aside from wanting Jareth and Sarah to end up together, the characters were not well introduced or exited in the books, problems were left unsolved or were not solved by those who created them, and bringing Sarah back into her dreams just so she could leave them again was a bit of a let down. She says she'll always need the people in the labyrinth, including Jareth, but something still doesn't feel right. She loved acting and fantasies and she just turned on all that and became a teacher. Everyone still needs dreams and fantasies sometimes, even when they are grown, but she didn't seem to understand that or agree. I do agree that everyone should be able to choose their own destiny and Jareth was selfish to want her to stay with him because HE wanted it. I'm just not satisfied with the books. They don't really seem to have the essence of Labyrinth. I still think they need to make a second movie, but they need to make sure they play it off of the first movie, instead of adding a bunch of "fluff" that had nothing to do with Labyrinth realm. Who knows, perhaps one day I will read the books over again and my opinion may change again. As of today, that is my opinion of the books.

 

[Dominicboo1]

Okay, try not to be mad, LOL, but I'm not much of a J/S shipper. However, that being said, I WOULD like to see an adult Sarah return to the Labyrinth just to see her adult psychology factor into the plot. Would she stop being so self-absorbed? Would she stop playing with forces she doesn't understand? Would she realize she memorized the book and have a better sense of what goes on there? (I never understood how she could always be surprised about how stuff unfolded if she truly was a major fangirl of that play.) I'm more interested to see how she's grown as a person in the totality of her life, not just maturing in romance. I mean, that's what I find "true happiness" boils down to for a lot of fans. The fact she admitted she needed her friends (a weird ending considering she dropped them like a hot potato during the final confrontation and a Firey who made her feel creeped out was there too ... what message is THAT?) gave her a happy ending. The movie was less about her immature crush and more about learning about depending on others, about caring about others. For her, Jareth remained the villain all the way to the end, even though, well, "that's not fair". I'd be interested to see if maturity led her to a different conclusion regarding Jareth. Would she admit that he was merely trying to give her what she wanted? Would she continue to blame Jareth for the plot SHE started? Could she admit to him she was wrong? I'm more concerned about that than getting hitched to the Goblin King.

I also wouldn't mind if Sarah was one of the main plots, not just the sole one. The ending clearly shows Jareth planning on using Toby yet again to get his way. Does Toby have nightmares? Did his little excursion give him a more intuitive sense of magic? Could he see Fraggles (LOL)? I realize the comic sequel gave everyone a fanfic sense, at least at first if nothing else, but whether one thought it was well-executed or not, the fact remains that Toby can be much more than just a McGuffin.

What's a McGuffin?

 

[Labyrinthbty]

I say I. All for a sequel with the original cast, characters, puppets, and puppeteers. Labyrinth left us hanging. Yes being a girl I always felt Jareth and Sarah should end up together.

 

[Drtooth]

Sequels that take well over 20 years to happen?

What could possibly go wrong?