This is one of the most awesome movies I have ever seen. It’s gorgeous to look at, the surroundings, the creatures, the athmosphere is perfect. The storyline is excellent. It’s a fairytale, wrapped up in a fairytale. OK, a rather nasty, creepy, terrifying fairytale at times, but remember, that’s how fairytales were intended. Those evil sisters of cinderella cut off their toes and the little mermaid died (sorry to blow your bubble kids, disney lied).

Pan’s Labyrinth beautifully shows a young girl in a harsh world she wants to escape from. She escapes into a fantasy world… or is it? Either way, the difference between the real world and the world she escapes to is very harsh at first, but as the story progresses they intertwine. Fantastically done. It had me leaving the cinema wide eyed and speechless (which is extremely rare for me, i can tell you ;)).

I was pretty wary at first at a rehash of The Devil’s Backbone.

Pleasantly surprised to find it more of a reinvention, far more on point and with its own very unique fantasy world.

There’s a lot of art in the way this is constructed; juxtaposition of sets, careful color and lighting, even the occasional wonderful reference to Goya and other artists.

The Pale Man sequence is now one of my favorite movie scenes.

Wonderful.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Pan’s Labyrinth on DVD. Last night of course, my husband and I confidentially purchased the DVD although neither of us had seen it before. We were not disappointed. It was immersed in beautiful cinematography and had lovely tone. There were some rather violent scenes that I hadn’t quite expected and didn’t prefer to watch, but at the same time they provided a sharp contrast between reality and the imaginary. Overall I think the setting (macro and micro) was very complimentary to the plot and really propelled it to an emotional ending. It was, admittedly, a bit slow in terms of dialogue, but I imagine the imagery was supposed to be front and center.

I forgot to record that we watched this several weeks ago and both thought it was extremely beautiful but not very emotionally compelling or well-plotted. Definitely lovely eye-candy though.

Really beautiful, but in a very graphic and quite disturbing way. It was quite amazing, and the story was surreal but you completely believed in the magic around the mill and the voyage that Ofelia went on. Really recommend this film.

I saw this movie last night with Benjamin and my in-laws. It was beautiful and amazing. The young star actress did a fabulous job. A couple of things I didn’t know about the movie before I saw it: it’s in Spanish with English subtitles and it’s surprisingly, brutally violent at several points. Regardless of that, it’s still very worth watching.

This was probably the best movie I’ve seen in a long time, and I highly recommend everyone see it.

I knew nothing about this movie before going to see it beyond a few trailers showing fantasy stuff. Within the first five minutes I discovered it was in Spanish and set in Spain after the civil war.

The mixture of ordinary and fantastical elements take on a surreal quality, and I’m not sure how to judge the ending, which version was reality? Or were both of them?

Bleak, Brutal, somehow Beautiful.