Pan's Labyrinth Details

Dark and moving

I was highly ignorant of what this film would be about. I had seen and heard very little about it, which may have been a good thing. I imagined a young girl being sent to live with this evil guy, overcoming adversity through the aid of a loveable faun. Doesn't that sound nice? (And should David Bowie pop and sing at some point, more's the better. Yes I know it's not that Labyrinth.) I could not have been more wrong if I had tried. What I got was mainly a story of war with snippets of fairytales thrown in, and evil, scary fairytales. The parts set in the real world were highly disturbing, with the Captain being a very vicious man happy to beat people to a bloody pulp on a whim, torture and murder without batting an eye. And our heroine is not safe either. So she happily takes on the faun's tasks that will see her return to the underworld and be free of the Captain. Brilliant tasks, especially the one that sends her underground with one of the scariest film monsters I've ever come across. The man with eyes in his hands. Stay away from the grapes love! Shudder.

This is an excellent film, just not what I expected. Ivana Baquero does a great job of carrying such weighty stuff on her shoulders, and the Captain is perfectly played. The effects were also very good, not too over the top, very realistic, especially the gory bits (though I didn't see that much of them I'll be honest). It was also very moving and did bring tears to my eyes at the end. I really recommend this, but go into it with eyes open, it's certainly not one for the kids.

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Pan's Disappointment

I went to the cinema to see Pan's Labyrinth and very nearly walked out. Expecting something special I was met with a relatively depressing plotline and overly violent interludes. The otherworldy flights of fancy I had been enticed to see were admittedly pretty amazing while they lasted, but they never seemed to go anywhere, were disconnected and disjointed and left me feeling deeply unsatisfied. I simply cannot understand why there is so much hype about this movie!

I get that the film is supposed to reflect a fairly intense slice of history, but it falls short of every mark it tries to reach. Slightly nightmarish and certainly grotesque in many places, Pan's Labyrinth will leave you with an unsettled feeling, wondering why you had to watch such spectacles as someone being slashed in the face with a knife, then sewing up their own horrible injury in the mirror.

I would recommend not bothering, or at the very least checking your good mood at the door before descending into this morbid semi-fantasy world.