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Movie Review - Pan's Labyrinth (2007)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Guillermo del Toro |
| Starring: |
Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, and Doug Jones |
| Rated: |
R (for graphic violence and some language) |
| Length: |
112 minutes |
| Genre: |
Drama/Fantasy |
| Tagline: |
Innocence Has A Power Evil Cannot Imagine. |
| Studio: |
Picturehouse |
| Website: |
Pan's Labyrinth |
| Release: |
January 19, 2007 (Memphis) |
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PLOT
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Set in 1944 against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain, Pan's Labyrinth tells the story of Ofelia, a
young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother's new husband - the evil and merciless
Capitán Vidal. Ofelia's unfortunate situation looks to improve when she goes exploring in the woods and discovers
a mysterious set of stairs leading beneath the earth.
Once she reaches the bottom she meets a faun who reveals that she is actually a princess with three tasks to
complete in order to open a portal that will allow her to return to her kingdom. Is this all just an imaginary
world that Ofelia has created in an effort to come to terms with the real world that she loathes, or could it
possibly be real? Some freakishly cool creature designs ensue.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Visually compelling, brutally disturbing, yet not completely satisfying, Pan's Labyrinth offers the viewer
a wide range of emotions to experience. Moving at a deliberate pace that some will no doubt deem too slow, the
film delivers a dark, dreary world with little hope other than what lies beyond our own reality.
I was immediately pulled into this dismal world, and my interest stood firm for the remainder of the runtime.
Unfortunately, the film has, not surprisingly, been mis-marketed. My expectations anticipated a full-blown fairy
tale, complete with a world overflowing with fantastical creatures and imagery. I couldn't help but be a little
disappointed that the majority of the movie's focus is the evil Capitán Vidal and the Spanish Civil War.
The blending of two different genres - the historic reality of Franco's Spain and the fantasy world - is certainly
an interesting mix, but the fantasy world is presented with so much more imagination and with such a greater
measure of creativity that I didn't want to leave it.
Everything in the world possesses a certain amount of menace, leaving you unsure of what is good and what is evil.
Even the fairies are carnivores. Plot contrivances and annoying character decisions aside, the creatures
are expertly crafted (The Pale Man is just plain freaky), and I wanted more of them. It's like experiencing
someone else's bad nightmare.
Pan's Labyrinth may not fulfill every expectation I held going in, but I recommend it.
The variety of theories and opinions that it's certain to generate will inevitably lead to some interesting
discussions. Granted, if you're the type of person who thinks Ice Cube is the best actor in the world (AKA a
knuckle-draggin' retard) then you really should skip it. Reading all the subtitles might be a bit much for
you to handle.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Director Del Toro's main visual influences were paintings and illustrations rather than films. The fairy tale
illustrations of Arthur Rackham were particularly a big influence.
- Rackham apparently refuses to visit poolhalls because distinguishing whether people are actually calling his
name or not became too much of a headache.
- Doug Jones plays both the faun and The Pale Man.
- Faun's costume was latex rubber foam with fiberglass horns. Makeup for Jones took five hours each day,
approximately the same amount of time it takes to give Johnny Betts' hair the perfect look of controlled
ruggedness.
- Jones was the only American on the set and the only one who didn't speak Spanish.
- In addition to his own lines, Jones also had to memorize Ofelia's lines so that he'd know when to speak
his next line.
- The film received a 22-minute ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. That seems a bit much. Granted, I gave a
22-minute standing ovation at the end of Josh Brolin's Nightwatch, but still.
- Johnny Betts was one of only five people in the theater when he saw Nightwatch.
- The ruined town seen during the opening sequence of the film is the old town of Belchite, which was also used
by Terry Gilliam for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The town was destroyed during the Spanish Civil
War and never rebuilt.
- Doug Jones was in Men in Black 2 with Tommy Lee Jones who is in the upcoming No Country for Old Men
with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This is NOT for kids. Or the squeamish. I don't care how many times or within what context you hear the term
"fairy tale" thrown around, there is no way this is suitable for children. There are some "f" words (in the
subtitles), but where this movie really earns its R rating is in its graphic violence.
A guy is bludgeoned to death with a bottle, people get shot in the face, somebody's mouth is slit open
with a knife, etc. Things are a little uglier than what you typically see in American-made movies.
Chronic(what)cles of Narnia this ain't!
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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As I mentioned in the review, the trailer is misleading. It solely focuses on the fairy tale aspect of the
film. That's a misrepresentation considering that makes up less than half of the film's content.
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THE GIST
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Pan's Labyrinth might not be for everyone, but it's still one I recommend to everyone (of the right age)
just because I'm interested in the range of opinions it's bound to inspire. It's not often we get something
this original with such a unique visual style, so why not give it a shot?
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