Moving a TV show to the big screen has proven tricky for many that have gone that route, such as 1998’s The Avengers and 2009’s Land of the Lost.

It didn’t put Jim Henson off though, as he skilfully sent his Muppets to Hollywood with impressive success, directing three of them.

He was keen to take his puppetry mastery into other areas, as he showed with 1982’s The Dark Crystal.

He continued with what was considered a big budgeted project with 1986’s Labyrinth, which would transpire to be the last film he would direct.

It’s receiving a re-release in 4K now to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Arriving home late in a bit of a tizz is 16-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly). She’s scolded by her stepmother, as she was expected earlier to start babysitting her toddler step-brother Toby, whilst her step-mother and father go out for the evening.

Sarah is angry at having babysitting duty, and makes a wish that Toby would be taken away by goblins.

Little does she know that goblins are listening, and do just that.

Sarah soon finds herself in a fantasy world where the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) offers her a challenge; he’s giving her thirteen hours to make her way through his labyrinth, and if she succeeds, he’ll return Toby to her – but if she doesn’t he’s keeping him.

She has little choice and has to accept, but it’s clear she’s going to need some help from the eccentric locals if she’s to win.

Despite having a lot of success with his Muppet franchise, Henson felt the pressure with the big budget at the time - $25 million.

He had some impressive support throughout the production though; not only was Bowie starring in it – one of only two main human cast members – he also wrote songs for the feature too, with Trevor Jones on board as composer.

He also had George Lucas on board as an executive producer, as well as the help of his ILM team.

And on the writing front, he had Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame, write the script, which was certainly influenced by his comedic background.

The film took a big hit when released domestically in the States though, only managing a box office of $12 million. Thankfully it fared better in other areas, such as the UK, bumping up its box office taking to a more respectable $34 million.

The damage had been done however, receiving a mixed bag of reviews on release, which led Henson to suffering from depression.

Time has been kinder to his film, being warmly received over the years, elevating it to cult status. And it’s easy to see why.

Henson was quick to dive into his fantasy world, and even though there’s not much in the way of a back story, except that Sarah was reading the Labyrinth book at the time, he gets away with an eye-catching world and larger than life characters.

Forty years on it looks undeniably dated, but it balances out with an abundance of charm, with Connelly’s youthful performance propped up by some quirky puppet characters, who help solidify the fantasy world they all exist in.

And it kept to its The Muppet Show roots in being shot in the UK, which may well be part of the reason it was embraced so well by the Brits.

Although it hasn’t necessarily aged well, Labyrinth still remains an elegant landscape for puppet genius Henson to run amok creatively, allowing audiences to tag along with Sarah and her ragtag team, on what still is a wonderful journey into a world of puppetry-fuelled fantasy.