Tolkien-esque fantasy, designed by British illustrator Brian Froud, co-directed by Jim Henson (creator of the Muppets) and Frank Oz (voice of Miss Piggy, Yoda, et al.), and enacted by a new breed of puppet for which there is as yet no convenient label. The major designing effort has gone toward minor revisions of the known universe, creating creatures that look not quite like anything you have ever seen before, although somewhat like some things you have seen: vultures, lizards, beetles, troll dolls, Ollie the Dragon, Mia Farrow (as she would appear on a canvas by Walter Keane), and so on. The results are decidedly mixed. Broad, rounded features identify the forces of Good; narrow, pointy ones the forces of Evil; and our aesthetic sympathies go entirely to the latter. The effort to animate both these factions is a separate matter altogether, and the slow, bobbing movements of all the main characters prove deadly to the movie's pace. (1982) — Duncan Shepherd
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