has this been discussed in here yet ?

wot are all of your thoughts on this ?

i thought it was beautiful. just one of them films you can lose yourself in and get wrapped up by the story and what it was about.

dont wanna go spoiling things if none of you have seen it yet.

so no discussion
this is something i'm HIGHLY anticipating

ahh right.

well im from the uk, so that explains a few things.

its an awesome film and your right to anticipate it, its had great reviews.

its definately worth going to see.

I saw the Devil's Backbone some time ago and even though I don't remember much about it, I remember it was good. This looks even better.

And damn yeah its amazing! Loved every minute. Really one of the best films i've seen in a good while. Don't be fooled by trailers, this isn't some kids fantasy film AT ALL. In fact its pretty damn nasty, I mean I reckon 15 is a pretty generous rating, some of those scenes I was really wincing. And some great imagery in there, that Guillermo del Toro really went all out on this one. Trust me to all you Americans, when it comes out, go watch it, you won't regret it.

I know it has Labyrinth in the title but they're ain't a massive deal else in common.

>I know it has Labyrinth in the title but they're ain't a
>massive deal else in common.


Pans. As in criticize. Get it now?

Regardless that movie looks pretty good

I'm an idiot!

...i been sittin thinking "folks hate Bowie like THAT? it was a long time ago.."

i clicked to read gripe about the movie...

I'm assuming IMDB is correct. I can't wait to see this.

showed up at 6:30 for an 8pm showing. around 8:10, the guy comes out and says their copy of the movie is fucked beyond repair; a whole 1/3 of the movie was unshowable. great. at least i've got "children of men" to look forward to on thursday..

I can't wait to see it again.

There are not enough adjectives to describe how great this movie was.

Everyone was great especially Maribel Verdú (Mercedes) and Sergi López (Capitán Vidal).

I don't know what Guillermo del Toro obsession with creating these stories centering around children with the Spanish civil war (The Devil's Backbone) as the backdrop, but I hope it never ends.

I knew this wasn't a children's flick per se but I was surprised at how graphic some of the violence was.

>I don't know what Guillermo del Toro obsession with creating
>these stories centering around children with the Spanish civil
>war (The Devil's Backbone) as the backdrop, but I hope it
>never ends.

Not sure if the hostages are children but:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813981/

I'll chime in later. My brother just hit me about going to see it today.

Very dark film. More time spent in 1940's fascist Span than in the labyrinth or fantasy worlds.

And *not* the feel good film of 2006 either.

Don't bring your kids, but don't be afraid to see it if you don't like scary movies. Not scary, but creepy and oddly beautiful.


Sold out at the 2;35 and the 5:10 and the 8:00 showings in LA.

One of the best of 2006, but I was still somewhat disappointed with all the positive reviews about it being a masterpiece.

Great visuals, but the story was very simple and did not spend enough time in her fantasy world (those were the classic scenes).

And the movie had a slow pace and felt longer than it was. I can't put my finger on it, but some of it was boring.

Still with all the garbage out this year, it is still in my top 10 or even top 5.

I haven't the slightest clue what this movie is really about.
With all of it's buzz, I'd like to know if it's worth seeing, but foremost, I'd like to know what it's actual premise is before I go out of my way to watch.

I saw a special 10pm screening in Hollywood on the 28th. The actor who plays Pan (the goat thing) and pale man (creepy eyeball guy) was there signing autographs before the movie and he also did a Q & A session afterwards.

First off, the visuals and other technical stuff i.e. editing, cinematography, scene transitions, etc., were amazing. In my opinion, the movie is worth seeing for it's visuals alone. Very well done.

As for the story. It involves both the "real" world and the "fantasy" world. The real world consists of a group of fascist government soldiers stationed in a small countryside town during the spanish civil war in 1944. The surrounding hills are occupied by a group of anti-fascist rebels which the soldiers are there to defeat.

The main character Ofelia, is a young girl who's mother is pregnant with the fascist captains baby. Ofelia's real father was killed in the war and now her mother is trying to look out for them by hooking up with the captain. You soon learn what the captain is all about and it's clear Ofelia's mother really f'ed up.

Then there's the fantasy world. All I can say is that it elevates the movie to another level in my opinion. The fantasy world actually makes up far less of the movie than the real world. But it's not about the fantasy versus the real world. Since it's about Ofelia, and the fantasy element is all her making, it's really one story. In the very beginning, we learn about the story of a princess, and everything that follows is that story.

There is a lot of violence. And the real world can be uglier and more brutal than anything else. The supporting actors, most of which I didn't even talk about, all do a great job. I highly recommend Pan's Labyrith.

I have to mention, after the movie was over I thought it was pretty good but not great. I thought the quality of the story didn't match the visuals. It was a late night showing, I was already tired and I knew I had to go to work early that morning. But I couldn't stop thinking about and analyzing what I had seen while I was driving home. And by the time I got home, I had realized that what I had just seen really was a great movie.

Go watch it!

I almost went, but since I live in San Diego i didn't want to try to drive home after a late show at The Arclight.

I love that theater.

I saw it last night. Great movie, very violent but Guillermo Del Toro really knows how to use violence in order to move the story.
One of the few movies (only other one I know of Is Cidade De Deus), where you really see a child getting murdererd.
I could only bring up disgust for the captain (meaning it was well played).
The part with the creature with eyes in its hands freaked me out.
Amazing visuals.

I won't have access to it til about January 26th though. Dammit.

I started noding off in the middle of the movie. I felt the main storyline with the step father was good as well as the fantasy story although not as much. The visuals of the fantasy world I liked in a awkward sort of way. They were very dirty when they were supposed to be dirty and pretty when expected. Over all a nice movie. I wont cop on DVD nor will I really recommend anyone go see it.

Next stop, Children Of Men. I saw the commercial yesterday and I'm sold!

I saw this movie with a few of my friends a few days ago. It was good. I liked the role of the maid who took care of the girl. She was my favorite character in the film. I swear, I thought she was gonna die a few times but ended up being rescued by the resistance. What she did to the captain's mouth was great. I hated his character with a passion. He was definitely well-played. Pure evil. I wish the movie had more of a fantasy element than the real world scenes but the fantasy it had satisfied me. Good, good film.

though i must see Curse of the Golden Flower first.

It kinda meandered on and the ending could've been alot better

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt/tt070103guillermo_del_toro

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Very enjoyable. I had no idea what it was about, so I went in with no expectations.

The "hype" was well justified.
_________________________________________________________________________
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and you'll be alright

***This has been another positive bignick post.***

Yeah, the face bash in was a tough scene to watch

> Yeah, the face bash in was a tough scene to watch


I had a problem with that and the torturing scenes.

I liked it a lot though.


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That hit me hard. What a great film.

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wasnt THAT good.

I agree.

It was entertaining but far too hyped.


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a) i mean... i mean... she ate the grapes. oh hell no. and she got her magic fairy homies decapitated. that shit was weak. i know she got sent to bed without supper and all, but damn mercedes would've hooked u up. Just seemed out of character for her to disregard faun.

b) too much focus on the captain drama, i wanted to see more fantasy world

overall i thought it was really great, loved the death metaphor, loved the way violence was used in a potent but not saturating way. i thought it was really good.

when she was ate the grape i blurted out are you fucking joking?

the faun only made it clear to her like 5 times not to eat, is that so fucking hard? I mean, i thought that maybe if she would have displayed some resistance and later explained something like the food was magical and lured her to eat it, on some forbidden fruit shit, then i may have bought it... but then she was just like "i thought no one would know". smh, that was just too stupid.

Every character needs a flaw. Look through fairytales and see that kids do dumb shit ALL THE TIME. It makes sense.

but yeah.
mostly, it's a fairytale. lol


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Wasn't that just after she was sent to bed without her supper?
_________________________________________________________________________
We'll cast some light
and you'll be alright

and i think would have been much more convincing if they filmed it my way. but whatever, its a small gripe.

It was after she was sent to bed without her supper.

http://themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/panslabyrinth.html

It may be silly to you, but I really didn't need any further explanation than, she didn't eat.
_________________________________________________________________________
We'll cast some light
and you'll be alright

one grape wont do shit to your appetite.

but thats besides the point, the faun made it pretty fucking clear to her, the girl should have more brains/willpower than that.

you will not be able to convince me that scene wasnt stupid so lets just drop it.

its a fairy tale man - they ALWAYS screw up in the most blatant fashion. it was actually a NICE touch to the film that it made it more authentic.


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Could you really trust the fawn up until the very end? He kept gaining and losing your trust throughout the film. Personally, I didn't really trust that motherfucker - I thought he had alterior motives or Chesire Cat-like.

blah.

the fantasy world with the brutality of Ofelia's real one.

I saw an advanced screening (post #17) and Doug Jones did a Q & A session afterwards. He's the actor who plays Pan and also the flabby-yet-bony fairy muncher.

Anyways, someone asked him about weird and nasty shit he's had to do (since he's played a lot of creatures, bugs, etc.) And one of the thing's he said was that in the scene where he eats the fairies, he was actually chomping on a condom filled with colored fluid.

He said they really wanted to capture the right elasticity and snap.

First off, the cinematography was just excellent, and some great sets. Also, I really didnt expect this level of harsh reality...I mean all the executions and the torture and then the knife to the mouth or the bottle to the head...gotdamn, Del Toro seriously made it a point to differentiate between that fantasy and reality. However, that harsh reality is what really made the characters, esp the Captain, so real....they acted like real soldiers.

Great performances all around, just an excellent cast.

The only thing I was hoping for was more fantasy parts....I mean those parts were executed so well and the two quests she went on so enthralling, I really wish they woulda focused more on the fantasy(although I do understand that the movie really had to be reality-oriented considering they had to establish the characters and seriously contrast it with the fantasy world). The fantasy characters were SO well done, and I enjoyed those aspects so so much....can we get an offshoot all in the fantasyworld? lol. I just loved the fantasies so much, damnit.

i saw it about a week ago.

when the movie was over i had mixed feelings. i was veering towards feeling like the movie was "so-so". but that was because i had all these expectations before i parked my butt in a seat. i was comparing my expectations of the film with the actual film.

this is not a "so-so" film.

what took me by suprise was that i didn't want the film to be over. i was sad that the movie ended. it was a book-junky kind of sad. the familiar kind of sad i felt as a kid when some of my favorite stories came to an end. when i would read books, i was on a trip and i didn't want to come home. i actually cried at the end of some books that i read for that reason: i didn't want to come home. while i didn't spill tears over pan's labyrinth, i liked ofelia and thought she was cool and so was her world. so yup. i was kinda sad.

it's a damn good movie.

fuck.

yes it was.

Wasn't quite what I expected but the more I think about it, the more I like it. As most people who reviewed this, I was hoping for more of the fantasy world.

Even after hearing about how dark & violent it was I was still not expecting it to be so brutal. Certainly wasn't expecting so many execution style shootings. That bottle to the face was just as bad as the fire extinguisher to the face scene in Irreversable. Mercedes giving El Capitan the 1/2 Joker smile was pretty rough as well but easier to stomach since he was such a prick. The stiches afterwards tho? Ehhhhh not so much. I'm glad they never really showed the torture scene. And the leg cut (ahem) cut to the next scene just in the nick of time.

Besides all that, this was a tremendous movie. And the violence never felt too gratuitous. It's safe to say that Sergei Lopez has placed himself in that upper echelon of incredibly convincing movie villains. I had only seen him once before in Dirty Pretty Things. He was pretty creepy in that one as well but way more effective in Pan's. I'm glad the baby was a boy because I would hate to see what would've been tha babies fate if it were a girl.

Tough movie to watch at times & not sure if I'll see it again but I think I will since the subtitles caught me off guard. The spainsh language sounds so much nicer than English imo tho so this actually ended up being a nice surprise. I know there was some great cinematography at times but I couldn't really appreciate it completely since I was reading along trying to follow the story.

I loved the music. And the little girl who played Ophelia was quite impressive as well.

but simply put, one of the VERY FEW movies that i can honestly say i would not change one single thing about. It was that good...

all that was just her imagination right?