Pan's Labyrinth (Theater)

MaK10 · 01-04-2007, 08:54 AM

www.panslabyrinth.com

If you haven't heard about this movie don't worry, it's only got a 99% rating on www.rottentomatoes.com and is being hailed by critics everywhere, but at the moment is only playing in 17 locations across the entire country. Luckily for me it's playing in 3 locations around chicago so I got to check it out last night.

The movie is written and directed by Guillermo del Toro whom you might know as the director of Blade II and Hellboy or may remember one of his earlier works, The Devil's Backbone. Im still in the middle of Devil's Backbone and have not seen the few other smaller movies he did before that, but I don't think I'd be disputed when I say that Pan's Labyrinth is probably his best film to date.

The movie follows Ofelia, a child, who moves with her pregnant mother to be with her step-father, a war captain, so that her brother can be born in his presence. Of course the captain is in the middle of a warzone. Ofelia tries to keep her mind on other things and uses her imagination to form fairy tales. It's a little hard to explain exactly what it's about, but reality and fantasy are very hard for Ofelia to differentiate. She is visited by a fairy who leads her to the Labyrinth where she meets a Faun. The Faun tells her how she has the soul of the princess and must complete 3 tasks in order to return to the kingdom and sit next to her true father, the king. The 3 tasks bring Ofelia into this fairy tale world filled with incredible creatures and visuals.

So without giving too much away, that is the basic outline of the movie. Now for my opinion, take it for what it's worth, not everyone likes the same shit I do. I liked the movie alot, although it wasn't without fault. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting based on the previews and what I've read about. The movie revolves mostly about the real world Spain in the middle of the war. I would say 75% is in the real world and 25% in the fairy tale world, which was kind of a let down, as I expected it to be more of a fairy tale. But the visuals and storyline were incredible. Oh another thing, the movie is all in spanish, so if you don't understand spanish or don't want to read sub-titles this one probably isn't for you. They weren't distracting at all and didnt take away from the movie, but some people don't like reading a movie. So anyways, back to the movie. So as I said, most of it does take place in the real world based around the war, betrayal, and the birth of the Captain's son. The fantasy parts, as I described above, revolved around Ofelia completing 3 tasks in order to return to the fairy tale kingdom and sit next to her father as princess. Visually these scenes were incredible, in particular the scene with the "Pale Man" (the guy with eyes in his hands). Although not as long as I would have hoped, it was probably one of the best scenes in the movie.

So despite not having as much fantasy as I was expecting, the movie was very good and I wouldn't tell you to not go see it, but it's definitely not a movie for everyone.

JohnQ · 01-04-2007, 10:51 AM

So it doesn't all take place in the fantasy world? That kinda blows, the preview made it out to be like a dark Narnia type movie

JohnQ · 01-04-2007, 10:53 AM

is this the "Pale Man" you're referring to? I was hoping to see a lot of him, he looks scary.

MaK10 · 05-16-2007, 08:05 AM

Im bumping this due to the DVD coming out yesterday, make sure you pick up the 2-disc platinum edition, well worth it

01-04-2007, 08:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
MaK10 Owner Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,363	Pan's Labyrinth (Theater) www.panslabyrinth.com If you haven't heard about this movie don't worry, it's only got a 99% rating on www.rottentomatoes.com and is being hailed by critics everywhere, but at the moment is only playing in 17 locations across the entire country. Luckily for me it's playing in 3 locations around chicago so I got to check it out last night. The movie is written and directed by Guillermo del Toro whom you might know as the director of Blade II and Hellboy or may remember one of his earlier works, The Devil's Backbone. Im still in the middle of Devil's Backbone and have not seen the few other smaller movies he did before that, but I don't think I'd be disputed when I say that Pan's Labyrinth is probably his best film to date. The movie follows Ofelia, a child, who moves with her pregnant mother to be with her step-father, a war captain, so that her brother can be born in his presence. Of course the captain is in the middle of a warzone. Ofelia tries to keep her mind on other things and uses her imagination to form fairy tales. It's a little hard to explain exactly what it's about, but reality and fantasy are very hard for Ofelia to differentiate. She is visited by a fairy who leads her to the Labyrinth where she meets a Faun. The Faun tells her how she has the soul of the princess and must complete 3 tasks in order to return to the kingdom and sit next to her true father, the king. The 3 tasks bring Ofelia into this fairy tale world filled with incredible creatures and visuals. So without giving too much away, that is the basic outline of the movie. Now for my opinion, take it for what it's worth, not everyone likes the same shit I do. I liked the movie alot, although it wasn't without fault. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting based on the previews and what I've read about. The movie revolves mostly about the real world Spain in the middle of the war. I would say 75% is in the real world and 25% in the fairy tale world, which was kind of a let down, as I expected it to be more of a fairy tale. But the visuals and storyline were incredible. Oh another thing, the movie is all in spanish, so if you don't understand spanish or don't want to read sub-titles this one probably isn't for you. They weren't distracting at all and didnt take away from the movie, but some people don't like reading a movie. So anyways, back to the movie. So as I said, most of it does take place in the real world based around the war, betrayal, and the birth of the Captain's son. The fantasy parts, as I described above, revolved around Ofelia completing 3 tasks in order to return to the fairy tale kingdom and sit next to her father as princess. Visually these scenes were incredible, in particular the scene with the "Pale Man" (the guy with eyes in his hands). Although not as long as I would have hoped, it was probably one of the best scenes in the movie. So despite not having as much fantasy as I was expecting, the movie was very good and I wouldn't tell you to not go see it, but it's definitely not a movie for everyone.

01-04-2007, 10:51 AM	#2 (permalink)
JohnQ Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 124	So it doesn't all take place in the fantasy world? That kinda blows, the preview made it out to be like a dark Narnia type movie

01-04-2007, 10:53 AM	#3 (permalink)
JohnQ Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 124	is this the "Pale Man" you're referring to? I was hoping to see a lot of him, he looks scary.

05-16-2007, 08:05 AM	#4 (permalink)
MaK10 Owner Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,363	Im bumping this due to the DVD coming out yesterday, make sure you pick up the 2-disc platinum edition, well worth it

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)