Labyrinth/YMMV

• Non Sequitur Scene: The Fireys' scene (though there was a very small reference to it beforehand, it was still unimportant to the plot).^[1]
  • According to the "Making Of" documentary, the scene basically came about because Brian Froud, the guy who designed all the goblins, doodled the Fireys in his sketch book, took a liking to them, and then wanted to see what they could get away with doing using Blue Screen technology.
• Cult Classic: The film grossed $12.7 million on a $25 million budget, but has since gained this status. Also it has something to do with David Bowie.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Jareth stole a baby, tried to bribe its older sister into forgetting about it, and tried to stop her numerous times when she went into the Labyrinth to rescue it, but you'll be hard pressed to find any fangirl who acknowledges that (or, for that matter, anyone who doesn't treat the Foe Yay subtext as canonical). He's a Draco in Leather Pants in the movie, too; VERY tight leather pants!
  • Jareth is most likely a deliberate invocation of this trope to some extent, in that it's obvious that all his charm and looks and witticisms are intended to disarm. His whole schtick with Sarah is to make her forget that he's the villain, or at least to make her stop caring that he is, and be drawn in by the allure of his mystery and beauty and grace. Even as he torments her he constantly tempts her and lures her, showering her with visions of beauty and promises of love. It's arguably An Aesop that Sarah, having matured somewhat in her journey through the labyrinth, rejects such a shallow and childish course and rejects Jareth as well. (An aesop that a lot of fangirls would do well to learn.)
• Everybody Remembers David Bowie's Pants: Well, they probably exaggerate a little, but this is THE reason anyone remembers this movie if they aren't part of the fanbase.
  • So you say. This Troper remembers Jennifer Connelly looking very nice in that white princess dress she wears at the beginning.
• Evil Is Sexy: Jareth, and how.
• Fan Nickname: The Area. Yes, the internet has named Bowie's crotch.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Jareth/Sarah, despite Mayfly-December Romance.
• Foe Yay: There's some Jareth/Sarah subtext in the movie. Little bit. Just a tad. Mild smattering.
• Genius Bonus: If you know anything about Jungian psychology.
  • Terry Jones (from Monty Python) was a co-writer on the screenplay. This is a guy who can teach doctorate-level classes on literary tropes in his sleep.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Sarah mistakenly calls Hoggle "Hogwart".
• I Am Not Shazam: Jareth's kingdom is not "The Underground", that's just a song.
• Magnificent Bastard: Jareth.
• Memetic Mutation: Every mention of Labyrinth will almost invariably make mention of "The Area". Including singing adapted lyrics to "Magic Dance" (Pants magic pants! You remind me of the bulge...).
  • Go into any group of nerds and say "You remind me of the babe..."
    • What babe?
    • The babe with the power!
• Mondegreen: "Slap that baby, make him pee!"
• Memetic Outfit: Jareth's outfits and tight pants.
• Memetic Sex God: Jareth, as can be garnered from the page quote.
• Narm: Jennifer Connelly's breathless, melodramatic, somehow both overly emotional and completely flat performance. It fits perfectly when she's practicing a high school level play... except then she just continues performing that way.
• Nightmare Fuel: While The Dark Crystal is disturbing for realistic violence and alien creatures, Labyrinth goes into Surreal Horror Uncanny Valley with surreal David Bowie faces, Body Horror Firies, the eerie ballroom scene with the grotesque masks and almost everything being alive. Even half of the soundtrack sounds like something out of a horror movie.
• No Yay/Squick: A 15-year-old being romantically pursued ("Just let me rule you...") and watched over by a stretchy pants-wearing goblin king (David Bowie at 39) could make some folks squeamish.
• Signature Scene: The climax in the Escher room.
• Special Effects Failure
  • The scene with the "Fireys"—ya know, those fuzzy pink things that routinely decapitated and amputated themselves and others for fun—is notorious for having unusually bad Blue Screen special effects, even for its time. This is weird considering how good the special effects were in the rest of the movie. Now wispy fuzzy semi-translucent fringes are about the most difficult possible item to chroma-key, but it hasn't been remedied at all in "remastered" DVD releases. (That said, though they were far from the awesome advances we have now, it's pretty good for a bunch of puppeteers in black velvet suits.)
  • In addition, the child switches from a real baby to a doll a few times in "Magic Dance".^[2]
• So Bad It's Good: Not the movie itself, which is a cult classic on its own. But Jennifer Connelly's acting requires either very thick nostalgia goggles or an appreciation for the Camp value of her breathless, melodramatic performance.
• Straw Man Has a Point: "She treats me like I'm a wicked stepmother out of some fairy tale!" Well, lady, you are kind of a bitch...
• Ugly Cute: Awwww, how can you hate the lovable little goblins?
• Unfortunate Implications: Did Jareth kidnap Toby because he wanted to have sex with his Jail Bait sister?
• Vindicated by Cable: The movie was a huge flop in 1986, a time when family-oriented films generally struggled to find audiences, despite several extremely positive reviews. Once it hit VHS and cable, its fandom grew to the point that it's one of rights-holder Sony's most popular films on DVD.
• WTH Costuming Department: Seriously movie, what is with all Jareth's costumes? Especially those leggings...
  • Well, he is played by David Bowie.
• Uncanny Valley Freakshow: You thought The Dark Crystal was bad about the uncanny valley? Think again.

1. ↑ Alternatively, it is about adolescence -- a Villain Song and Hakuna Matata rolled into one.
2. ↑ We should hope so! It gets thrown thirty feet in the air and caught by a puppet!