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This was probably a children's classic from the moment it was written.. I do not expect much from foreign country filmmakers... This would be a shining exception.. It is not in English , but, has excellent readable sub titles.. Sometimes sub titles are done by folks who are not fluent in English and it is a bit of a challenge. t
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I expected this movie to be better as I enjoyed The Shape of Water so much. Some of the strict, mean characters are similar as in both movies and the "creature" was incorporated into each story. However, Pan's Labyrinth has a much darker aspect in its story development.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Set during Spanish Civil War, Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" is a twisted, dark fairy tale that leads you down a journey of pain and anguish. The film is not intended at all to be for children, yet uses childlike innocence to help tell us a tale that teeters on the edge of nightmarish dreamscapes mixed with corruption, violence, and the death of innocents. The fantasy sequences in the truest sense where intended to be real (not imagined) by Ophelia. Their intent is to miraculously take us to a mystical land of fairy tales, however it could, perhaps in a dark, dangerous, and unexpected way. More than most of the time the film exists outside of the fairy world, in the even more frightening world of a real life struggle of ideas and ideology. Sergi Lopez is excellent as the brutal (and possibly sadistic) Falangist Captain tasked with routing out the remaining leftists from the woods and hills of Northern Spain. Into this precarious situation come his new wife (a widow of a former marriage, who is carrying his son) and his stepdaughter Ophelia (played to absolute perfection, by the then 11 year old, Ivana Baquero). Uncomfortable with her new surroundings, suspicious of her stepfather and desperately concerned about the worsening condition of her mother, Ophelia uncovers a strange alternative world, and the chance to escape forever the pain and uncertainty of her everyday life. Thus the film alternates between the world of Civil War Spain and the increasingly bizarre, dark and frightening world of the Pan's Labyrinth. As the twin plots progress, they intertwine, with the tasks of Ofelia becoming the choices faced by a Spain at the crossroads. The poignancy of the film lies partly in the fact that the victories of the child are reflected so starkly by the failures of the adult world. Apparently Pan's Labyrinth won a 20-minute standing ovation at Cannes, when it was shown. This may be a little bit over the top. I suspect when the furore has died down some will choose to swing the pendulum back and criticize it for its more obvious faults. Much of the film is derivative. There are few ideas in the film's magical dreamworld that haven't been seen before. For all the evident truth of these observations, to accept them would be to entirely miss the majesty of "Pan's Labyrinth", which doesn't lie in its originality, but in its absolute mastery of execution. People will watch the film in a way that most will not "Land and Freedom". In doing so, they will also discover a world of fairy tales which existed before "Disney" sunk its claws into them: a dangerous world, where nothing is as it seems and every step is a possible death – a place which may leave even adults shivering under a table, part in terror, part in wonder. I'm going to give this film a 4/5, partly because the content was extremely cruel a moments and didn't require focusing so much upon the vanity and cruelty of the Captain. IF YOU LIKE MY REVIEW PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW BY VOTING. THANKS!Read full review
Let me begin by saying that this movie was not what I was expecting; the advertisements and print art led me to believe it would be more of a fantasy along the lines of The Lord of the Rings. None of that, however, kept me from loving this movie. As an avid movie watcher, I have learned that movies aren't always advertised/described as they should be, but if you are a true lover of cinema that will not keep you from appreciating a movie. If it does, then I pity you because you are going to miss out on some amazing movies, such as Pan's Labyrinth. Everything about this movie is amazing. The music is pitch perfect. The special effects are good but don't overpower the movie and take center stage. The acting is wonderful, and the plot moves at a steady pace with very few, if any, slow spots. There is a lot of violence, but that is to be expected considering it's set during a war. In many ways I saw Ofelia as the equivalent of a modern-day moviegoer, escaping reality by plunging herself into an imaginary world. It's a gross analogy I know, but isn't that part of the reason why we watch movies? My only regret is that I was unable to see this wonderful movie while it was playing in theaters. It never came to the local cineplex because I live in an area where foreign movies are not well-received. What a sad commentary on our society and (after reading some of the reviews here) people who purport to love movies.Read full review
I loved movies like "Lord of the Rings", but "Pan's Labyrinth" wasn't quite what I expected...I definitely didn't expect it all to be in Spanish with English subtitles (I have a hard time concentrating on the characters, while trying to read what they're saying), and it was oft times very violent (smashing in a sons face while the father looks on, then shooting the father in the chest at point blank range, was just one of many, many violent scenes). I thought it was going to be more of a 'spin-off" of the David Bowie movie way back when called "Labyrinth", with lots of interesting characters, and puppets with personality and attitude, and not so much violence. Overall, it is an entertaining and sobering movie about a young girl getting lost in her imagination to cope with a violent post-Civil War era.Read full review