Pan's Labyrinth

Let me start this review by giving some details about the genre of story telling we know as "Fairy Tales". This genre of known as "Fairy Tales" was never originally intended for children. In fact there is a lot of historical evidence which points to the fact that most of these old stories were written by adults and meant only for adults. The original nature of "Fairy Tales" was not meant to make you feel all good inside and nor were they to always end with "And they all lived happily ever after...The End". As others have pointed out we can all blame Disney for "dumbing" down this type of genre of story telling. Neither was this form of story telling meant to always include "High Fantasy". A lot of "Fairy Tales" actually have only bits and pieces of fantasy in them to help further a story along and to draw in the listener/viewer/reader further into the plot. I wont go to deep into the plot of this film but the director Guillermo Del Toro seems to go back to the roots of the original and lost art form of "Fairy Tales". Guillermo Del Toro in my honest opinion does an outstanding job of interweaving fantasy with reality. Yet he does not allow the fantasy portions of this film to overwhelm the reality based portions or the viewer. The fantasy portions are meant to force you to make that extra emotional leap. To engage you further into a main story which is all so cruelly based in reality. The reality being the post-Spanish Civil War era in Spain and a little girl with a cruel and self-absorbed step-father who is an officer in the Franco's fascists military. Guillermo Del Toro then wraps it up with a great group of actors and a hard hitting ending. My only complaint is that as others have noted the fantasy portion at the end might have been added to appease American audiences. You'll know what I mean when you see the movie and get to that part. The reality portion of the ending stood strong without the need to include a semi-happy ending if you can call it one. The movie does hit the viewer very hard emotionally. Frankly speaking I'll be honest and admit that as a man I did cry at end. I couldn't help it because maybe I just have a heart and a soft spot for kids. I feel that any movie, book, song, poem, etc that can draw out a strong emotional reaction has reached the apex of its art form in its given genre. Oh and yes there are portions of this film that are extremely violent and should not be viewed by younger children. As others have noted this move has an "R" rating for a very good reason as it's meant for adults only. Besides I'll doubt that many young children could keep up with a foreign film done entirely in Spanish let alone understand the slight and subtle plot twists of this movie including the ending. P.S. This is a master piece of a film. To dub this film into English would be like dubbing Karl Orff's vocal portions of "Carmina Burana" into English. For those who are angry that this movie is done entirely in Spanish well all I can say is that you should learn to speak a second language for goodness sake! Or just learn to deal with subtitles in foreign films and try to follow along with the story as best you can. Our society is going to become increasingly more globally oriented as technology and time march onward toward the future. The very nature of our increasingly global economy will demand that you if not your children learn at least a second language. This will grow increasingly true for every other generation hence afterwards when you, I and your children's generation are no more. If you had no idea that this movie was a foreign film then I can understand and forgive the confusion but at least try to give this film a chance.

On the front of the DVD it says, "On the same altar of High Fantasy as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy." Hopefully by now, everyone knows that J.R.R. Tolkien is the writer that penned that famous trilogy and with the help of Peter Jackson, made fantasy popular again. Unfortunately, that little sentence on the cover of the DVD is EXTREMELY misleading. By simply mentioning "Lord of the Rings" the average consumer is going to think, "Oh, Orcs, Hobbits, Wizards, Magic and huge battles with looming castles." Not quite. Pan's Labyrinth is as good as Lord of the Rings, but it is not the same. It is like comparing apples and oranges. If you really wanted to compare Pan's Labyrinth, it is more comparable to the works of the "Argentine Tolkien" JORGE LUIS BORGES. And the director himself even cited him as an influence. "Wait", you say. Who is this Borges guy you're talking about? And right there that explains why they had to compare this to Lord of the Rings. The average person is not going to know who Borges is, even thought that would have been a better comparison. Borges was fluent in many languages, did lots of reading and wrote many short stories and poems. One recurring topic of his (among many): Labyrinths. If you ever read some of his stories, there is some fantasy, but it's mixed in with literature. Just like Pan's Labyrinth has some fantasy, but is mixed with reality. Also of note, Borges has influenced writers such as Umberto Eco, who wrote "The Name of the Rose", and even features a character in his honor, Jorge. Hopefully after reading that, you will now understand what type of fantasy this is. It is not like Tolkien, but is as masterfully done as Tolkien. As for the movie itself: STORYLINE: The storyline is part reality and part fantasy. It is very similar to something Jorge Luis Borges would have written--thought-provoking and intelligent. MUSIC: The simple lullaby fits in so perfectly with this movie--especially towards the end. It's a little ironic, because a lullaby gives you that warm and fuzzy "everything is safe" feeling, but then there's the harsh reality. ACTING: All the characters did an excellent job at their roles. I was especially impressed with Mercedes. COSTUMES/SPECIAL EFFECTS: I tire of the big-budget, special effects laden movies that are flooding the market. There are some fantasy creatures (some of which look like they came right out of Jorge Luis Borges' bestiary, the "Book of Imaginary Beings"), but they have a nice puppety '80's look to them. Most impressive was the monster that had his eyes in his hands--that was very original and reminded me of the oubliette with hands in "Labyrinth". Simple, but effective. Overall, this is a great Great GREAT movie. I saw it in the theater twice and out of all the fantasy books/movies I've encountered from Robert E. Howard to Tolkien to Borges to George RR Martin, this is easily some of the best fantasy I've ever experienced.

Fantastic graphics and storyline. This movie is in Spanish and has English subtitles. Warning: parts of it are violent! I'm glad I didn't know this before watching it because it really is a great movie, although some parts are really hard to watch.

Great movie

It's a great movie but the disc skipped a few times

Me llego en el paquete en perfecto estado y en un tiempo muy adecuado, respecto a los envios desde Alemania. La edición es muy buena, la pelicula se ve muy bien en Blu-ray y en perfecto castellano, al ser una pelicula española, y sin susbtitulos quemados alemanes. Gran compra por el precio que la compre, 29€ + 12€(envio), y gran servivio de envio.

En perfecto castellano el audio, calidad sobresaliente. Los textos en pantalla aparecen en alemán con subtítulos, pero por el precio ha merecido la pena, y es que el DVD se queda muy muy corto de calidad en escenas oscuras como la introducción.

Le "Labyrinthe de Pan", un véritable chef d’œuvre et une grosse bouffée d’émotion personnelle. Envoûtant, tragique et violent tout en apportant sa féérie. La véritable idée du film est de partager le film en deux parties: Le conte et la guerre ... Les créatures sont très bien faites et ont un design très appliqué, les effets spéciaux sont très bons et la photo est superbe!!!

Guillermo del Toross neuer Streich ist ein starker Film, mit sehr guten Schauspielern (Sergi López als Capitán Vidal, Ivana Baquero als Ofelia und Maribel Verdú als Mercedes) einem phantastischem Score (Javier Navarrete), einer genialen Kameraarbeit (Guillermo Navarro) und einer phantastischen Story (Guillermo del Toro) im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Durch den guten Schnitt von Bernat Vilaplana, sind die Szenenübergänge sehr flüssig und man kann der Story immer gut folgen. Hört sich vielleicht für den einen oder anderen Leser hier ein bisschen übertrieben an, aber wer diesen Film nicht im Kino sieht, der wird es im nachhinein bereuen und das sage ich nicht nur aus einer überschwänglichen Laune heraus. Del Toro steht nicht für normale" Kinounterhaltung, seine Filme sind immer etwas außergewöhnlich bzw. anders, und Pans Labyrinth ist bis jetzt sein bester. Mich hat der Film auch ein bisschen an Alice im Wunderland erinnert, was nicht als negativ aufgefasst werden darf. Grausame Umstände lassen ein Mädchen in eine unterirdische Fantasiewelt flüchten, in der sie auf unheimliche und fabelhafte Kreaturen trifft, die ihr drei Mutproben auferlegen und sie mit ihren Ängsten konfrontieren. Pans Labyrinth kann man nicht beschreiben aber wenn ich es in drei Worten tun müsste, dann würde ich ihn als "grausam, unwirklich und schön" bezeichnen. Der Film ist sehr gewalttätig und wer das kritisiert, hat die Aussage vom Regisseur nicht verstanden. Es geht im Film um die "grausame Wirklichkeit (Realität)" und die Bestie KRIEG, welche aus den Menschen Monster macht. Der Capitán ist dieses Monster, welcher blind Befehle befolgt und zu jeder Grausamkeit bereit ist. Ofelia flieht vor dieser grausamen Wirklichkeit in Pans Labyrinth und am Ende vermischt sich alles zu einer phantastischen Realität. Dabei hat die Filmmusik einen immer wieder auf die Situation perfekt eingestimmt. Helden sind für mich immer solche Menschen, die sich überhaupt nicht als Helden sehen. Deswegen war ich von Maribel Verdú als Mercedes mehr als nur begeistert. Sie verkörpert eine unglaubliche Stärke und Entschlossenheit, dabei ist sie nur die Küchenmagd. Persönlich hätte ich mir gewünscht, dass die Rebellen ein bisschen besser beleuchtet werden. Dass ist auch mein einziger Kritikpunkt und der Grund warum der Film keine volle Punktzahl erhalten hat. Dadurch wirkt der Film ein bisschen wie schwarz/weiß Malerei. Auf der einen Seite die bösen Faschisten und auf der anderen die guten Rebellen, welche Gewalt mit Gegengewalt bekämpfen. Die Kreaturen der Unterwelt tragen viel zu diesem phantastischen Film bei. Was hier die SFX-Schmiede geschaffen hat, hat man so noch nicht gesehen. Der Pan ist einmalig und war so noch nie in dieser Form auf der Kinoleinwand zu sehen. Seine Stimme, die Bewegungen und viele kleine Details wie z.B. das Knirschen von Ästen, wenn er sich bewegt, tragen viel zu seiner Glaubwürdigkeit bei. Die abstrakte und sehr angsteinflößende Kinderfresser-Kreatur, mit seinem knochigen Körper, der faltigen weißen Haut und seinen Augen in den Handflächen, wurde auch perfekt in Szene gesetzt. Die Kröte in der ersten Aufgabe wirkte dagegen ein bisschen künstlich und war einfach nur eklig. Nach dem Ende bleibt man im Kinosessel sitzen und muss den Film verdauen. Das Ende ist perfekt und kann von Person zu Person anders aufgefasst werden. Ich persönlich bin ein rationaler Mensch und hatte meine Version vom Ende. Meine Freundin dagegen klatscht jedes Mal bei Peter Pan um Glöckchen zu retten und ihr Ende von Pans Labyrinth ist demnach ganz anders. Am Ende bleibt es jedem selbst überlassen, was er glauben will! Darüber eine Diskussion zu führen ist sinnlos. Fazit: Genießt dieses Meisterwerk aber geht nicht mit falschen Erwartungen in den Film! Es ist kein Horrorfilm, sondern ein Fantasy/Kriegsdrama!!! Wenn dieser Film keinen Oscar gewinnt, dann weiß ich wirklich nicht weiter. Pans Labyrinth ist nicht nur ein Meisterwerk, sondern auch ein Kunstwerk und sollte von jedem anspruchsvollem Kinogänger gesehen werden. Für mich bis jetzt (23.02.2007) der stärkste Film des Jahres!

Ofelia (Baquero) loves reading fairytales and during the 1944 Spanish war, she is asked by a faun to complete 3 tasks which will make her a princess. Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) uses his visionary genius to bring a dark and dramatic fairytale to life in this Oscar winning picture. Filled with surprises, dramas and a dark twists upon fairytales, Pan's Labyrinth is both different and unique in its own genre and fills a viewer's watching requirements with stunning entertainment throughout. The general surprise of seeing a fairytale told in such a dark and dramatic way is what makes the film so appealing. How many fairytales are realistic? How many are dark and reflect the true nature of their time? All run on the same format and offer no new thrills, but Pan's Labyrinth is unique and brilliant in achieving that diverse effect. Toro's direction, plot and the costume design all come together superbly to achieve a dark and dismal reflection on Ofelia's life, and believe the plaudits, because this is one of the finest and imaginative films you will ever see. Toro is lining up to become the next Tim Burton with the use of dark materials and gothic imagery. The writing is equally impressive with plenty of twists and turns and a strong focus upon each character's personal issues. There was slight confusion regarding the beginning in relation to the ending on the first watch, but it is well worth watching again. The plot is driven by fantasy and escapism, with Ofelia desperate to escape the war and set things right. Baquero is excellent as central character Ofelia and will set your hearts racing with a brilliant young performance. Each character is interesting, from the stubborn and violent Captain Vidal to the silent and professional Mercedes, the film portrays realism through the realistic characters and their lives. The writing and dialogue keeps the audience hooked as Toro delivers twist after twist in a highly dramatic plot. The use of fantasy was a necessity and was pulled off tremendously well, through the use of unbelievable creatures. From a gigantic frog to a blind hellish creature, Toro gives viewers a variety and an image that will be cemented into anyone's memory forever after watching. The settings help achieve the graphic and dark imagination behind the creatures, none more so than the labyrinth. Pan's Labyrinth simply achieves everything that a good film should need to, great direction, plot and characters. 9/10