Actually, i really liked the fact that it was in spanish, even though i'm not a fluent speaker. First of all, from what i could tell, the translation was really pretty good. Second of all, when the faun speaks spanish lends his voice and ancient and arcaic quality that i can't imagine him possessing in english. I don't want to add to the gushing, so i'll just say that i loved this movie.

The awesome thing about the faun ("Pan") is that he was spoken by an American who didn't know how to speak Spanish!! He pretty much did it phonetically, but there were a few times where I just accepted the fact that he was speaking "Faunese". It was pretty cool actually. I'd never ding a movie for being that creative!!

Finally saw it last night. It was devastating. I saw it in spanish, but I'm a fluent speaker. The language, however, wasn't a big deal either way. What was impressive was the imagery. The little girl was stunning. Beautiful, but "real." Credible as a real, living breathing little girl. Which makes her death so wrenching and so devastating The setting was also brilliant. It was almost Aristotelian in its discipline.

Add to that the fact that the Spanish Civil was is one of the most neglected historical events of the 20th century. People in Spain are just beginning to come to terms with it, but worldwide, it hardly registers. Seeing falangism portrayed so dramatically is a real breathrough, imo.

I don't know that I'll ever see the movie again. The violence was graphic, but, more importantly, it seemed to have gravity and consequence. Unlike a move like 300, say, the violence in this film was intimate and human. It was something horrible happening to real people. Which made it that much more difficult to witness.

A cinematic masterpiece, imo.

quote:

Originally posted by kendocubano:
It was something horrible happening to real people. Which made it that much more difficult to witness.

This is the scariest part of any movie to my mother. The more realistic the situation, the harder it is for her to watch.

I'm happy to see you enjoyed it though, but it isn't as violent as it could've been. Yeah, you have the graphic murder there at the beginning, but you don't witness the torture or the amputation. I'd say, outta the entire movie, there are really only 2 gruesome scenes when the Captain beats the boy with the butt of a wine bottle & when Mercedes catches the Captain off gaurd & stabs & slices the crap outta his cheek. Other than that, the violence is off screen. It's kinda like how EVERYONE sees "Pulp Fiction" as a violent movie, but most of the violence is off screen.

I just saw this movie with a couple of buddies, and it's a great movie. I must say, this is an adult movie and no way intended for children. The trailers and previews were very misleading. But it had a R rating with description: gruesome violence. Of course, no one reads it.

I liked how in the second task, the girl was supposed to open the second door, but she disobeyed the fairies and chose the first door. Also, it seemed odd as to why the girl would eat the grape when she is explicitly instructed to not eat it when her life depend on it. Watching it, there was a change of music and she suddenly stopped to eat the grapes. The Pale Man's loud rising and waking from the chair didn't get one bit of attention from the girl until he was right behind her. I think she was under the same spell of the Faun (which is the Pale Man too) that had ensnared all the other kids. The second test was to make Ophelia feel guilty and for the faun to abandon her. The intention was to set up the faun to give her another chance to obey him, with the final test between her obedience and her conscience.

And the fact she disobeyed the Faun parallels how Mecedes and the Doctor chose to against the captain and his fascist nature. So one of the messages of the movie (there are many others) is choice vs. blind obedience.

I liked the film but it is a little overhyped and doesn't deserve a 97. I give it a B+/B rating, but like Mark, I'm a harsh grader.

Well, nomercy2182, I can help you out with your concern with Ofelia's second mission. I was a little confused myself . You see, she hadn't eaten in a day & a half. Remember, she was sent to bed without dinner that one night & her mother fell ill the day after & she didn't eat any thing that day, either. Also, the fairies were a test, they purposefully pointed to the wrong door to see if Ofelia's instincts as a princess were good. Was the Pale Man not the creepiest thing you'd ever seen? Del Toro talks about this, & more, in his extremely informative commentary.

I just saw this on DVD rental and it was pretty devestating. I was incredibly sad after and throughout much of the movie. I read some of the glowing reviews but none stated that the movie would be so gosh-darn depressing. It is beautifully-shot, the acting is superb, the special effects are trememdous and the music is really special. I think people are over-looking the music but most of it was a nice fit and was gorgeous.

Overall, I liked it. I don't think I would want to own it even though it is so good. It's kind of like how I feel with Children of Men, as good as that movie was I don't think I would ever want to own it.

Either way, it was an enjoyable, great story.

I liked this film far more than I thought I would. Which surprised me a bit, actually - I'm a long time fan of speculative fiction and also of Guillermo del Toro's films, and I have nothing whatsoever against subtitled films. But I'd read so many glowing reviews of this one that I was a bit leery of the hype going in.

Luckily for me, del Toro delivered, and the film lived up to its hype. The dark fairy-tale tone, complete with the inventive tasks Ofelia must complete, the cinematography, the effects - all of it added up to quite a satisfying whole. And I didn't find it depressing, ultimately - if you buy-in to the fairy tale ending it's actually uplifting (though I'll concede that's a suspension of disbelief many will find difficult).

The movie was crazy intense. I was albeit a little confused because the impression I got from the trailers and adverts was that it was Harry Potter-ish or LoTR-esque; the movie had barely any semblances to the two other movies in terms of theme, atmosphere or feel. For me, it's almost like Pan's Labyrinth should be under the Drama genre rather than Fantasy.

Maribel Verdú pulled a superb performance. Then again I've always thought she's a great actress.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
The awesome thing about the faun ("Pan") is that he was spoken by an American who didn't know how to speak Spanish!! He pretty much did it phonetically, but there were a few times where I just accepted the fact that he was speaking "Faunese". It was pretty cool actually. I'd never ding a movie for being that creative!!

You know what, that's funny, coz I noticed right away by his accent he was definitely not from Spain. But I didn't think he was a non-native speaker. I thought maybe he was from Argentina or Uruguay, from the way he sounded, and he was trying his best to sound "Castellano". The words he used were words that were definitely what people use in Spain, but his accent came off (to me at least) as South American. Anyhow, that's interesting. I didn't know he was an American actor.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlito's Way:

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
The awesome thing about the faun ("Pan") is that he was spoken by an American who didn't know how to speak Spanish!! He pretty much did it phonetically, but there were a few times where I just accepted the fact that he was speaking "Faunese". It was pretty cool actually. I'd never ding a movie for being that creative!!

You know what, that's funny, coz I noticed right away by his accent he was definitely not from Spain. But I didn't think he was a non-native speaker. I thought maybe he was from Argentina or Uruguay, from the way he sounded, and he was trying his best to sound "Castellano". The words he used were words that were definitely what people use in Spain, but his accent came off (to me at least) as South American. Anyhow, that's interesting. I didn't know he was an American actor.

Actually, despite the fact that Doug Jones learned all the Spanish necessary to voice the role, del Toro still decided to overdub the lines using a theatre actor. Because he took the time to really learn the Spanish, however, the overdubbing synched perfectly with the on-screen movements of his mouth.

I just recently watched this film and I was a bit disappointed. The torture scenes were a bit too much to bear, and I had to double check the credits to make sure Cronenberg wasn't involved.

I'll admit that I casually skimmed all the replies, but I didn't seem notice anyone come to this conclusion: About halfway through the film, I became convinced that the little girl's imagination made up all the fantasy aspects of the story. The only thing that refutes this is that I'm not sure how she got out of the locked room at the end. But it does explain why she would eat the grape off the table. If it was only her imagination, then what harm could those fantastic creatures really pose? Because I was playing detective, it might have hampered my enjoyment of the film.

I probably would have liked this movie more without the grotesque violence and if I had seen it not having heard much about it.

B

Actually, Mr. Jack, your concerns are addressed in the Director's Commentary. Or, if ya don't wanna listen to the entertaining commentary of del Toro, you can go up a few posts, to my last post in this thread, where I explain it in black type.

Love ya, Monkey!

Oh, Mr. f, I love you, too! By the way Max J, it was all real! The faun, the fairies, everything! In fact, the faun was also the Pale Man. Wrap your head around that one!

I like my version better

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
I probably would have liked this movie more if I had seen it not having heard much about it.

I think this helped me. I'd heard nothing about it and thought it was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I also think you worried too much about whether the girl's fantasies were real. I don't think that's terribly important.

quote:

Originally posted by MajorNougat:

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
I probably would have liked this movie more if I had seen it not having heard much about it.

I think this helped me. I'd heard nothing about it and thought it was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I also think you worried too much about whether the girl's fantasies were real. I don't think that's terribly important.

Yeah, I tend to take myself right out of movies when I'm uncomfortable.

I really didn’t know what to think about this movie when I saw it. I just remember hearing all of the talk from critics, award-nominations and all the talk here. My girlfriend and I watched it together and we had all the lights off and it was pretty neat. I mean, it was definitely a good movie but I couldn’t help thinking about how incredibly sad it was. It was powerful and I kept thinking, “Wow, this is pretty good!” But when the movie ended, I just thought “Well, that was really sad” and I drove home that night thinking about it.

The next few days after that, didn’t watch it again, I just kept thinking about just how good it really was. I also had a lot of questions about what was real or not but I just set those aside. It truly is a remarkable piece of art.

I believe that the entire movie occurs in the instant of her death. Reality is not the issue, because, like "American Beauty," the film is the "movie in her mind" at the moment of her death. Even into what happens after her death. What sort of death does a little girl construct for herself? A fairytale, of course.
I thought the film was brilliant. One of the best films I've ever seen. But I don't want to see it again.