[Ottis413]

I was leafing thru the latest issue of Wired, and came across an ad for a movie called Pan's Labyrinth, coming out on DVD the 15th. (?)
I had never heard of it, looks good though, has anyone seen it?
(I only hope it doesn't feature 'man nips' for the sake of this thread....)

[SpaceWeavil]

It's been out on dvd here in the UK for a few weeks now. I enjoyed it. It's very dark and the sort of 'real life' scenes (as in the ones in the normal world) are quite brutal in places, which made a change from sort of kid's fantasy films like Narnia. I loved the special effects and actually one thing that really struck me was the music, which I'm saving up to get on CD at some point as I reckon it'll be good to listen to while I'm writing.

Saying that, everyone else I've heard talking about it around here (as in around where I live as opposed to online) has said it was rubbish. But I liked it.

It is subtitled, just in case you didn't know that.

[Ottis413]

I watch very little TV so I might have missed the commercials, but no one that I work with had ever heard of or seen this movie.
It seems to me that a sign that a movie is really good (or sometimes really bad) is that movie critics either love it or hate it, without much in between.
Still, I don't put much stock in critics reviews, so many of them have an ax to grind or an ass to kiss that sometimes I wonder if they even bothered to watch the movie.....
When PJs' FotR first came out, I read a review in a major newspaper that went like this;
"Frodo and his Argonauts go on a quest to destroy a ring and overthrow an evil lord... PG13, 3 stars...."
WTH???

[greywing]

I thought it was incredibly sad and strangely compelling. A rather good movie, in my opinion, though possibly stylistically too similar to some Eastern films I've seen.

[vladazhael]

I don't know about everywhere else, but the movie had a very limited and strangely staggered release in the US. I might not have known about it at all if someone hadn't mentioned it to me (fortunately in the context of it actually playing at a theater near where I live). I very much enjoyed it, and everyone I talked to who saw it did as well, though I suspect that has to do with its target audience having been the only ones around here who heard about it in the first place. It's a very interesting mix of reality and fantasy, both in terms of what it's about and how it's made. As far as fairy tales go it's rather old school, without all the blood and guts Disneyed out of it, so probably not great for the more impressionable kiddies (or more impressionable adults, for that matter). But I'd wager that anyone with enough of a fantasy-friendly mindset to hang around here probably has a good chance of liking it.

[Sirannon]

It got rave reviews here in Denmark. Easily the best critical claim this year, so when I saw it, I was naturally a bit disapointed. That said, I think it is a great movie. Visually sublime, and a gripping story to boot, though I find that it doen't quite have the intellectual depth that it purports to have.

[NancyBrooke]

It got a lot of (favorable) press here in B'more, but then the Sun does have a good tv/movie critic, if little else, to recommend it. The film got alot of press around Oscar time since it was nominated in several categories and won three - cinematography, art direction, make up. The Director, Guillermo Del Toro also got a fair amount of attention as one of the 'three musketeers' with directors Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

All of which is to say very little, except that I had wanted to see it in the theater but missed it and am glad it will soon be available on DVD.

[NeumeIndil]

Rent it. I think you'll really enjoy it Ottis. It's set during Franco's occupation of Spain, through the eyes of a very imaginative and bookish 10ish year old girl whose step-father is one of Franco's men and a bastard to boot. The main character is a kid, but like Vlad said, it's not really a children's movie (I'd say 12 or 13 and up at the least.) Bloody, very Grimm Brothers' fairy tale in feel, Spanish with English subtitles (a friend of a friend walked out b/c he didn't know it was filmed in Spanish, thought he got the wrong theater). Like Space said, the score is pretty amazing, and it was a very visually interesting film; it had a dark, Gothic sort of beauty. I was impressed with the makeup and costuming/creatures as well.

It wasn't widely advertised in northern Ohio either, but the sci fi/fantasy/gamer geeks I hang out with had heard of it, so I got to see it in the theater and I'm very glad I did. I'll probably add it to my Amazon wish list now that I know it's due to release, so thanks for the heads up.

[Ottis413]

Sounds good, I don't mind subtitles (my wife hates 'em) I've been taking Spanish lessons and maybe I even understand some of it...
There'll prob be a dubed version also, if so I'll get it so my 'ol lady can watch too. (she wouldn't even try to watch 'Das Boot' with me.. )

[dolarabee]

[Viv]

I can't say I enjoyed the movie, because I don't think it was going for that. It was trying to make the audience *feel*, I believe, and I certainly *felt* when I was watching it. Characterizations and situations are all very deep and complicated -- more than you'd expect from a fairy tale -- and the visuals were haunting, gorgeous, and just a little bit terrifying. I was disappointed with the ending, but that's because I had hoped for something else. And that's all I'll say without spoiling it.

[Ottis413]

I still haven't got to watch it, it never came around to the local (if an hours drive can be called local) theater, or rental place, or Walmart for that matter.
I'll have to order it on-line, I guess.
Same thing with "Children of men" the closest theater to show it was about a 100 mile (about 45km, i think) drive from where I live (thru the mountains, one way) sometimes living out in the styx sucks..

[Lenale]

I loved it. Unfortunately I was already afraid of the dark -before- I saw it...

Like Viv said, it's not your typical feel-good movie. But 'tis beautiful.

[dolarabee]

[Viv]