On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world.On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world.On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins & 5 nominations total
Brian Meehl
- Ornamentalist (performer and voice)
- (as Brian Muehl)
- …
Jean-Pierre Amiel
- Mystic Weaver (performer)
- (as Jean Pierre Amiel)
Simon J. Williamson
- Mystic Chanter (performer)
- (as Simon Williamson)
David Greenaway
- Mystic Healer (performer)
- (as Dave Greenaway)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJim Henson's plan with this movie was to get back to the darkness of original Brothers Grimm fairy tales. He felt that children liked the idea of being scared and that this was a healthy emotion for them with which to deal.
- GoofsThe Gelfling puppets have three fingers and one thumb on each hand. When Kira and Jen make their way into the castle via a mouth-like entrance, Kira's right hand has five fingers in the long shot (actors, not puppets, were used for long shots of the Gelflings).
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits show only the credits for the crew.
- Alternate versionsThe original home video release replaced the theatrical end credit roll (the credits rolled over an image of the last shot of the film) with a different, video-based one (end credits rolling over an image of Aughra's face.). Subsequent home video releases restored the original end credit roll.
- ConnectionsEdited into The World of 'The Dark Crystal' (1983)
Featured review
I had never heard of dark crystal before they announced the Netflix series taking place in the same universe. I got curious and watched the film first and I am so not disappointed.
Few years after the first Star Wars and the first alien, special effects didn't look so realistic compared to today. But what they achieved visually is worth the 200 millions of CGI a film nowadays requires. Amazing designs and colours. There is a feeling of immersion, which I have rarely achieved watching films from early 80's.
The Story-telling is good and enjoyable once you accept this universe's basic rules, which are kind of dumb, but I'll give it a pass. This is a very enjoyable hero's journey before the era of comic-book movies and you can really feel that because everything in this film feels so honest and genuine. The film makers had really a lot of freedom and I believe there should be more films with such creative freedom in the 21st Century.
The film aged well, but you can see that the characters move and special effects are old, despite a clever use of the camera to hide it as well as possible.
An excellent surprise to discover this film, I had a great time!
- pintaxandre
- Oct 18, 2019
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El cristal encantado
- Filming locations
- Brimham Rocks, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK(Mystics travelling to the castle)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $41,613,957
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,657,335
- Dec 19, 1982
- Gross worldwide
- $44,625,778
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content