Willy

Anyone see this? They finally showed it at my local theater last week and man, what a fantastic movie. It is in Spanish and subtitled, but one of the best movies I've seen in a long time and totally deserving of it's Oscar nominations. It's simultaneously tragic and wonderful, gut wrenching and uplifting. The little girl is fantastic as is the rest of the cast. Very violent, definitely not for kids, but a very excellent movie. Still pretty limited release but if you are in an area where you can see it, I highly recommend it. It's listed as "horror" and I can see why, but it is not a horror movie as in a gratuitous slasher flick AT ALL.


Tomatometer = 96%

Halx

There are a lot of people speaking up in the "rate the last movie you saw" thread. They tend to like/love it.

I liked it and thought it had some awesome parts, but it also had some slow and unconvincing parts. For what its worth, when it was good, it was damn good, but it wasn't consistent. The CG was a few years behind the curve, however the gore was delightfully graphic and realistic. In the beginning, you just have to trust that the story is going to take you somewhere good, so it takes a while to get rolling.

In the end, you'll be thankful that you saw it, but its not a flawless movie by any means.

__________________
You have found this post informative.
-The Administrator
[Don't Feed The Animals]

Arc101

Agreed it is not flawless but what movie is ?
I do think this is a very good film, and something Hollywood would never make in a million years. It is well worth watching and the acting is very good. If anyone wants to see something totally different to the usual films that get pumped out then this is a good choice to make.

Willy

I have no idea what you mean by CG being "behind the curve" but I thought I heard the special effects were done by Weta (who did the Lord of the Rings movies). I thought that they were pretty hot stuff?

pan6467

WAIT I have a labrynth and noone ever told me about it?????

DAMN!!!!!! Well, now I know and there will be hades to pay when I find who knew and wouldn't tel me.....

Oh wait you're talking about the movie....... boy is my face red.....carry on.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Lady Sage

Dont mind him... he hasnt had his medication. (Love you honey)

The whole movie is in Spanish with just subtitles, I would still like to see it one day though.

__________________
If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper
Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

kurty[B]

I might have to catch it when I'm in the city this weekend. I doubt it will make it to my small mountain town theater, especially since it's subtitled.

*Sigh*, makes me miss my old independent theater.

ratbastid

Brilliant. Beautiful. Very hard to watch.

ironpham

Super depressing movie, but I still liked it.

abaya

Pretty much, yeah.

Pan... you got a good chuckle out of me, there.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Bittertalker

I went to go see the movie with my girlfriend some time ago, and although I liked the movie I was expecting more of a fairy tale as the trailers seem to imply. Thinking about it I guess it is still a fairy tale during the “realistic” scenes, because the film can be seen to serve as an allegory against fascism. I thought it was interesting that Doug Jones who portrayed not only the Pale Man, but the Faun as well had to memorize not only his own lines in phonetic Spanish, but as a result of the loudness of the servos in the head piece that made the facial expressions and ears move of the Faun costume he had to learn Ofelia’s lines as well… or so I read.

soma

It was good, but the non-fairytale storyline was pretty boring. When Ofelia wasn't doing the tasks to fulfill her destiny, the movie really was dragging.

* mini spoiler alert *

But the monster with those hand eye things was really really really cool.

__________________
Having Girl Problems?

Tamerlain

I saw a preview for this last night when I was shooting pool - this movie looks incredible. I didn't know it was in Spanish until I read this thread though; couldn't hear anything in the bar.

I think it will be kind of interesting to see a movie influenced by Spanish mythology.

-Tamerlain

__________________
I never let school interfere with my education.

kurty[B]

I saw this this weekend. Great show, probably the best movie of Guillermo del Toro's that I have ever seen. It was not quite what I expected from the previews, but that was not a problem.

Does anyone know why it's called Pan's Labyrinth in English? And not "The Faun's Labrinth"?

I did not expect the theater to be as full as it was, but it made sense when the teenagers next to me said "Is the whole thing in Spanish?"

Halx

You'll notice the faun is never given a name. Pan is the name of the most recognizable faun in the mythology that americans are taught. My guess is they dumbed down the title, not trusting the word "faun" to the american public. Instead of calling something what it is, they call it by the name of something that represents it. Kinda like how everyone now calls a clownfish "Nemo."

__________________
You have found this post informative.
-The Administrator
[Don't Feed The Animals]

kurty[B]

That makes sense. I didn't realize Pan was a name of a faun (shows my knowledge in mythology). I figured that if they named it "The Faun's Labyrinth" Americans would pronounce it "The Fonz' Labyrinth" and go to the movie yelling "EHHHHHHH!!!!"

Frosstbyte

While I loved the movie in question, I would also, without hesitation, go to see a movie called "The Fonz's Labyrinth" and pay good movie to do so.

Porkchop

Gonna watch this movie through the week. The trailers on recent dvd etc make it seem very interesting.

__________________
Be cool b*tch now b*tch be cool
Sport 1976 Taxi Driver.

Crack

I saw it. I really liked it. Damn the ending though.

__________________
Crack, you and I are long overdue for a vicious bout of mansex.

~Halx

Frosstbyte

Hal, I was wondering what your source was on the Pan/Faun thing. I wanted to read more about the decision and link a friend to the article. If you could point me to it, I'd much appreciate it.

Arc101

The ending was brilliant - most films you know the ending, but in this one it took me by surprise. Anyway, for those who have not seen it yet, please take a break from the usual dross Hollywood chucks our way and see something like this which is original and different.

Kalnaur

Sadly enough, I'm in the party that was more disappointed with this film, as I was hoping for more of the fairy tale; if I wanted to go see a "history" film I'd go see a history film. I was not really all that thrilled with the first scene of brutality as well (the rabbit hunters). I just think I expected more of what I usually like to watch, and less people shooting each other for a while.

__________________
PC: Can you help me out here HK?
HK-47: I'm 98% percent sure this miniature organic meatbag wants you to help find his fellow miniature organic meatbags.
PC: And the other 2 percent?
HK-47: The other 2 percent is that he is just looking for trouble and needs to be blasted, but that might be wishful thinking on my part.

Toaster126

I liked this movie a lot. I came into the movie not expecting anything in particular, so I wasn't disappointed.

__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

Redjake

Very interesting movie.

I think the reason I'm not exploding with joy after seeing this movie is because I thought it was an "Alice in Wonderland" deal like everyone seems to be saying. The thing is, this movie has about 15 minutes total of "fairy tale and dream" scenes, and the rest is the dark, gritty realism of fascist Spain circa WWII. Totally didn't expect that. I expected something along the lines of "first 10 minutes of the movie, girl enters some sort of 'labyrinth' and is wisked away into a new, amazing universe with Neverending Story-esque creatures that are either friend or foe, she finds her way back at the end, is changed for life, etc." but it's definitely 100% not that. It's 85% realism, 15% fantasy. I wish it were the complete opposite.

The movie was great, just not what I expecting - I know you can't rate a movie on "expectations" as far as the storyline goes, but the advertising is really misleading, me thinks.

I agree with Halx, as well - some of the CGI was a little out of date. Guillermo doesn't enjoy using CGI (most of the monsters/creatures, including the guy with no eyes, and the faun, were costumes), but when he did in this movie, 50% of it wasn't up to par - close, but could've been better. I'm particularly reminded of the huge frog (alternated between good cuts and bad cuts of the CGI frog) and the scene at the end with the emperor or whatever (sitting on the high-up seats). Ophelia seemed to in a CGI world, similar to Attack of the Clones (which was a travesty in filmmaking), instead of immersed in a "real fantasy" world. Short scene, but could've been much more effective if they used real props.

I give the movie 8.5/10. Pace could've been a bit better in the "real world." Wonderful acting. Needed more of the "good stuff" (fantasy). Not a LOT more, just a bit more to speed things a long in the movie. I recommend it.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.