I hope you had the
opportunity to watch Pan's Labyrinth this month. I picked this
movie because I didn't think this would be a movie most people would decide
to watch due to the subtitles and it was worth checking out. Another reason is
that I have been hounding Noel to watch it for probably over a year and figured
this was a good way to get him to watch it! ;-)
It has been a while since I've seen this movie and it was almost like watching it for the first time. I forgot a LOT of some of the key points. I didn't remember it being as graphic. Some of those scenes were pretty realistic and gruesome (I'm thinking about when the captain smashed in the bunny hunter's face then killed him and his father).
It has been a while since I've seen this movie and it was almost like watching it for the first time. I forgot a LOT of some of the key points. I didn't remember it being as graphic. Some of those scenes were pretty realistic and gruesome (I'm thinking about when the captain smashed in the bunny hunter's face then killed him and his father).
What I liked most
about the movie were the underworld characters. The imagination of Guillermo
Del Toro is pretty amazing and he did a great job putting that into reality. I
thought the characters were developed really well and had you really despising
the captain. I liked the ending and the overall message of the film, which I
took to be, be true to yourself and you will find salvation. Ok, maybe a
little bit of a stretch there, but she knew she wouldn't become the princess of
the underworld unless she gave up her baby brother and she refused because she
didn't want any harm to come from him (even though he basically killed her mother). I guess the only thing I didn't
understand was how the faun said it had to be blood from the innocent (or
something like that). I felt like Ofelia WAS innocent so I d/k why she wouldn't
have been able to offer up her hand.
I'd love to know what
you thought of the movie (good/bad), so leave a comment and let me know.
Becki =)
Great selection Becki! I have had this film on my to watch list for a long time so I am glad I finally took the time to watch it! I absolutely loved the story and the characters! I thought the two different story lines were handled perfectly! What an amazing imagination by Guillermo Del Toro! The Characters were so amazing that even long after watching the film they were still in my mind, which for me is a good sign for how much I enjoyed the film.
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable to me as well. I had rated the movie well, but had forgotten much of the movie. And just like you, I had completely forgotten just how violent the movie was at times. It was like a kids movie for the grown up me.
ReplyDeleteGood choice, I am glad I was able to watch a fun movie again years later.
This movie had been on my "Watch List" for awhile now as well. I liked the two separate story lines as well, but in the end I felt that both storylines could have been their own separate movies. About half way through the movie I felt myself getting frustrated at the switching back and forth as I was getting invested in the "real world" story more than the "labyrinth world".
ReplyDeleteThat said, the imagination of Del Toro is amazing. Quite a lovely, dark, and twisted fairy tale as well.
I appreciated that it also focused on a little known historical story (or at least unknown to us in the States). I knew a little bit about the Spanish Civil War from reading Hemingway and Orwell, but I had no idea that the fighting had continued (guerilla style) up into WWII. Now I have some more research to do on that subject.
Trivia fact (from IMDB I think). All of that "shooting" was done digitally. The area where filming took place was having a drought, so the armorer was forbidden from using blanks in the guns. Not sure about all of the explosions at the end though. Those looked real.
Overall, I'd give the movie 4 out of 5 stars.
Clint