B. Chandler 2008-11-11

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Director Guillermo del Toro out did himself and created a film beyond any previous presentation. Although he purposely applied many layers both technologically and psychologically, the actual finished product is deeper and has many more facets. This could be the results of leaving loose ends and just implications. What looks like two stories is really one story where one reality intertwines with another reality until they both merge.

It is 1944 Spain, five years after the Civil War, ten year old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is going to meet her new stepfather Captain Vidal (Sergi López.) Vidal is a fascist pro-Franco officer. She is about to meet more than that as she encounters possible friends from another world. We also see how touchier and fantasy are juxtaposed. One of the major questions to answer is, is the magical creatures real and can only be seen because you have to have the right gaze or are they figments?

You will need to watch the movie several times to get the nuances and see the surrounding environments that you miss when concentrating on the dialog. See how the two world parallels in furniture. See out the two works hold similar tasks as both containing a key and a knife. And there are always more surprises waiting.

The acting is superb especially Ofelia's death scene. Ivana Baquero Won, Imagen Award Best Actress, Premio ACE Best New Actress, Newcomer Award Female (Categoría Femenina), Turia Award New Best Actress, and Nominated, Young Artist Award Best Performance in an International Feature Film - Leading Young Actor or Actress.

The Blu-ray version I watched had English subtitles as option but I found them to be a tad inaccurate and wanting of some of the background conversations. However the director's voice over option helped point out the obvious that was not obvious until he pointed it out. As pointed out by the director the violence was not for violence sake in the story and they did not have cowboy type breakable props.


Bridge to Terabithia [Blu-ray]
Pan's Labyrinth

E. A Solinas 2008-11-06

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

If anyone wants to know where the dark, creepy fairy tales of old went, here's a hint: Guillermo del Toro is doing a pretty good job with the fairy tales for adults.

"Pan's Labyrinth" ("El Laberinto del Fauno") is a sequel of sorts to "The Devil's Backbone," a magical realism film about the Spanish Civil War. But this movie takes us deeper into a world that is half real, half ominous fairy tale, with a unique and imaginative story and some really excellent acting -- in short, a triumph.

Time and place: 1944, Spain. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her very pregnant mother travel to meet her new stepfather, the brutal and murderous Captain Vidal (Sergi López). Ofelia loathes her new stepfather, but is transfixed by the eerie forests around them -- and one night she is visited by a fairy, and encounters a giant faun who tells her that she is Princess Moanna of the netherworld, and must return there.

To do so, he tells her that she must do three things, and gives her a strange book. Ofelia menages first task, but is frightened out of her wits by the second task, which involves a hideous monster with eyes in its hands. Even worse, her mother's pregnancy is getting more dangerous. As the guerillas and the fascists clash, Ofelia faces being trapped outside the netherworld forever... and being offered a terrible choice if she wants to get in.

Fairy tales have become cleaned-up and cutesy over time, so that children can read them without nightmares. But del Toro knows that the best fairy tales are the eerie, bizarre ones for adults, that are connected somehow to the real world. That is what makes "Pan's Labyrinth" so brilliantly dark and heartfelt.

Del Toro obviously crafted this with care, directing it in a dreamlike style and brilliant visuals. The eerie atmosphere of Ofelia's wanderings -- the delicate yet menacing faun, the chalk doors, the monuments, and the pasty nightmare with eyes in its palms -- is both a contrast and a parallel with the everyday world, which Ofelia hopes to escape.

At first, it seems like the post-Civil War and fairy tale stories don't mesh, until you see that the "real world" story is Ofelia's motivation to escape from all the fear, pain and sorrow that her "real life" is full of. But Del Toro's biggest triumph is an ending that is beautifully bittersweet, and which turns out to hinge on Ofelia's newborn brother.

But del Toro's biggest triumph is in the instant connection we feel to Ofelia, with her love of the fantastical and her desire to go somewhere "safe." Baquero is absolutely wonderful in this, as a girl who isn't entirely of this world -- in her heart, she belongs somewhere beyond. And López is the ideal villain -- you spend the whole movie wanting to see him gruesomely killed.

Half "Mirrormask" and half gritty war story, "Pan's Labyrinth" is one of the best fantasy stories in years -- dark, passionate and beautifully made. Definitely a great movie.