Pan's Labyrinth [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Tharj TreeSmiter

2007-01-15, 09:14 PM

If you haven't seen this movie then you definitely should. Well let me amend that, if your an adult or very mature teenager then you should absolutley see this movie.

It's an adult fantasy (no not that way), it's extremely dark, disturbing, violent, but enchanting, mesmorizing, and wonderous all at the same time. It will help if you know something about the spanish civil war but you don't need to.

Anyway anyone else want to add to my opinion?

Nifft

2007-01-15, 09:35 PM

It's an excellent movie, and a perfect fairy tale.

Most of all, it features fully realized human characters. Even the ones you're not supposed to like are three-dimensional and demand your respect, if not your admiration.

And the acting is good, too.

Cheers, -- N

Logos7

2007-01-16, 07:32 AM

I'd recommend this movie,

Really Enchanting/Terrifying at the same time

Child Acting/AGI that doesn't annoy ( Me at least )

and it fits in Spanish Civil War like a 12year old's hand in a kid glove, like they where made from eachother.

It's imaginative prreety and harks back to wonder is all to often the verge of terror.

Great Movie, Go see It!

Fredricus

2007-01-16, 07:38 AM

It's a really good film. I recomend!

Closet_Skeleton

2007-01-16, 12:30 PM

I'd recommend it if I wasn't the 5th person to do so.

WampaX

2007-01-16, 01:26 PM

Since I plan on seeing Pan's Labyrinth once it hits Atlanta (and thus cannot recommend it), but have already seen The Devil's Backbone I'll recommend it instead.

Same director, Guillermo del Toro.

Aliquid

2007-01-17, 09:39 AM

gwendolyn

2007-01-17, 07:49 PM

Aliquid

2007-01-17, 08:08 PM

Pan's Labyrinth was simply amazing. I was really emotionally affected by it. A lot of movies/books make me cry, but the last movie to really hit me like this was back in 2002. Like, the film ended, and I was just sitting there sobbing through the credits, and I was still a little stunned on my way home. Which I think means it was an awesome film.. and not just that I'm messed up :)Interesting, I didn't feel that sad. I was happy for her that she made it to where she wanted to go. It was sad but not too sad.

Now a movie that makes me cry... Grave of the Fireflies. Brutally sad :smallfrown:

But that's an older movie, certainly pre 2002.

gwendolyn

2007-01-18, 12:22 AM

I didn't say I cried because it was sad..

CockroachTeaParty

2007-01-18, 12:34 AM

This movie was excellent, and I think it would have been worse if it was in English. The lyrical nature of Spanish added to the haunting, magical world of it all.

And was anyone else reminded of Silent Hill when that wierd monster by the food showed up?

Tharj TreeSmiter

2007-01-18, 01:38 PM

I was happy for her that she made it to where she wanted to go.

that's assuming that it's real, personally I think it wasn't. If you are interested PM me and I'll give you my reasoning.

Gamebird

2007-01-18, 01:57 PM

I haven't seen it yet, but I saw a trailer and it looked awesome. Our "group" has a date to see it Sunday matinee.

ray53208

2007-01-19, 10:57 AM

i really enjoyed the movie.

Vespe Ratavo

2007-01-21, 03:02 PM

I'm gonna go see it tonight. Maybe I'll post a review later.

Wizzardman

2007-01-21, 07:23 PM

Really good movie. Definately not for anyone younger than age 13 (and probably not for anyone under 16), but a really good movie nonetheless.

The underlying themes were excellent, the acting was superb, and the ending was simultaneously horribly sad and wonderfully happy. My only complaint is that the movie got rather unnecessarily graphic at times. Still, it was a really good movie.

Gamebird

2007-01-22, 10:23 AM

I've seen it now. Really good! I loved it.

Charity

2007-01-22, 10:28 AM

The Faun in this movie could kick Mr Tumnus' ass :smallbiggrin:

Spoiler info below
So who thinks it was all in her imagination, and who believes it actually happened? Most movie reviews say it was her imaginiation since her father in law couldn't see the faun. I say it actually happened since the magic worked on her mother, and she used the chalk to get out of her locked room. The faun was invisible to the captain, because the faun didn't want to be seen

It was left deliberately ambigious, the optimists amongst us will back one and the pessimists the other.

There are some conceptual similarities with the mighty Brazil, which I feel drawn to mention, though that may lead to off topic ramblings by the duffers. (my mate swears Brazil has a happy ending, why can I not agree with that, but I'm willing to say Pan's Labyrinth does?)

Gamebird

2007-01-22, 10:56 AM

I'm with Aliquid. There's too many things unexplained that all characters agreed to the existence of:
the labyrinth itself
the root
the chalk

And things that don't make sense if she was making it up:
the premonition of her mother's bleeding
her mother's healing
the onset of labor pains
why she would stop in the labyrinth and allow the captain to catch her

It's not like the captain was in good shape, or a reliable, perceptive witness... or like the faun wasn't powerful enough to be unseen if he wished. He showed the trick of invisibility several times, appearing and disappearing from Ofelia's room.

Tharj TreeSmiter

2007-01-22, 01:10 PM

Agreed but the simplist explanation is

it was a fantasy in her head.

There are lots of ways you can explain things

she could have gone through a whole in the wall in the labryinth that the captian couldn't fit through and just imagined that the wall moved for here. The chalk could easily have been real but she escaped another way. And she would have stopped at the labyrinth because she was trapped it was a dead end (no tasteless pun intended). Her mothers pregnancy could simply have been a coincidence, and remember this was rural medicine of the 40's.

The faun only "proved" it's power of being invisible if you've already assumed he's real. If it's her imagining it then it's simply because he's not there or she's imagined it to have the power of invisibility.

When kinds play in real life they'll use a real doll and put a pretend diaper on it or a real truck that's moving pretend dirt. Rarely do kids play entirely pretend it's usually rooted in something real which they build off of.

However you interpret the movie/ending it's a fabulous movie and I loved it.

I'm with Aliquid. There's too many things unexplained that all characters agreed to the existence of:
the labyrinth itself
the root
the chalk

And things that don't make sense if she was making it up:
the premonition of her mother's bleeding
her mother's healing
the onset of labor pains
why she would stop in the labyrinth and allow the captain to catch her

It's not like the captain was in good shape, or a reliable, perceptive witness... or like the faun wasn't powerful enough to be unseen if he wished. He showed the trick of invisibility several times, appearing and disappearing from Ofelia's room.

Gamebird

2007-01-22, 01:37 PM

That doesn't seem simpler to me, if you assume that a magical world has a good chance of existing (which is a common assumption in movies).

Aliquid

2007-01-22, 05:39 PM

I think a quote from the movie's creator might help in this discussion:

"The movie is like a Rorschach test where, if you view it and you don't believe, you'll view the movie as, "Oh, it was all in her head." If you view it as a believer, you'll see clearly where I stand, which is it is real. My last image in the movie is an objective little white flower blooming in a dead tree with the bug watching it. So…."

from: http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/008507.html

cthulhu_waits

2007-01-22, 08:45 PM

A great, great movie. It was just great.

I think it was real. I certainly think the movie left it fairly ambiguous, leaving it up to to each person to decide for themselves whether she imagined it or not. But I think it happened.

mikeejimbo

2007-01-28, 01:29 AM

The ending certainly left me feeling sad, either way you want to believe it.

To the question "Was it real or fantasy?" I can only say "Yes"

McDeath

2007-02-01, 04:15 PM

I really, really loved that movie. I liked the ending, how it left it ambiguous. I choose to believe that it was real.
Most Poignant Line: "He won't even know your name."

Vaniel

2007-02-01, 04:24 PM

For some reason, I suspected more, more fantasy from this movie. I expected more, and was disapointed with the final result.

Flabbicus

2007-02-01, 04:26 PM

My friends and I are attempting to see the movie tomorrow.

EDIT: Saw it yesterday with a few friends. It was better than I expected (which was a high bar to begin with).

As to the mystery

When they threw the mandrake root into the fire I said as an aside to my friend sitting next to me "At least now the girl knows that the magic is real and her mom was wrong."
I liked the portrayal of the captain, just the right mix of pride, tenacity, sociopathic tendencies, and malicious intent.

Vix

2007-02-18, 11:12 AM

For some reason, I suspected more, more fantasy from this movie. I expected more, and was disapointed with the final result.

I agree, though I still loved the movie.

The trailers only show the fantasy elements, with emphasis on the awesome graphics, and nothing about the WW2 Spanish Civil War backdrop. Going in to the movie I didn't even expect subtitles though I might have known if I paid more attention during the trailers rather than staring excitedly at the faun and whatnot. Don't get me wrong, I think the Spanish dialog heightened every aspect, made the characters more authentic and the faerie tale more distant and unattainable.
Also according to the rating people it was going to be dark and gruesome so I was disappointed that it was RL evil with a fairy tale on the side as apposed to vise versa

Still a fabulous movie

oh and it was real, in fact I never even considered that it wasn't real until reading this thread but I'm a just a hopeless fantasy geek in denial I guess

sethdarkwater

2007-02-18, 11:35 AM

Interesting, I didn't feel that sad. I was happy for her that she made it to where she wanted to go. It was sad but not too sad.

Now a movie that makes me cry... Grave of the Fireflies. Brutally sad :smallfrown:

But that's an older movie, certainly pre 2002.

I so agree, Grave of firelies really choked me up.

adanedhel9

2007-02-18, 01:09 PM

I loved this movie. I think it's one of the best movies I've seen in a while. And I'm going to go against the popular opinion: I think it was all in Ofelia's head. It was her way of escaping the reality of the world around her; her way of claiming some bit of control over her situation.

... WW2 backdrop. ...

Don't be thrown by the D-Day reference. The Spanish Civil War was a very different event than WWII. Sure, there were a lot of connections between the two, and Franco fit right in with Hitler and Mussolini, but the Spanish Civil War was all but over when WWII started. The Allies were more than willing to let Franco run Spain, the Axis had a deal with Franco that kept WWII from spilling over the Spanish border, and Spain was in no shape after the civil war to join in the battle on either side.

Vix

2007-02-18, 01:53 PM

^ oops right Spanish Civil War. my bad

Varian

2007-02-18, 05:04 PM

I loved the movie, and I'm still unsure about the real/fake thing. I think the director did it purposfully that way so each person can decide on thier own.

I really like the way everything was done, and I agree that at some points it was unneccisarily gory. Still wonderful though

ZombieRockStar

2007-02-18, 06:49 PM

I think I'm scared to eat grapes now. :smallbiggrin:

I liked the fact that the real world and the fantastic were juxtaposed, and that the fantasy was sparse. The movie seemed to side with the real world and:that means that she did die in the end.

Reinforcements

2007-02-18, 07:42 PM

Pan's Labyrinth is my favorite movie of the year. Not that that's saying TOO much, but hey, it beat out Children of Men and Smokin' Aces.

Vix

2007-02-18, 07:57 PM

Pan's Labyrinth is my favorite movie of the year. Not that that's saying TOO much, but hey, it beat out Children of Men and Smokin' Aces.

300 is gonna kick it's ass but until then it will reign supreme

Mattaeu

2007-02-18, 08:45 PM

And then TMNT will clean up...until Transformers. (hey, here's to hoping)

It's like an unstoppable cycle of glory!

ZombieRockStar

2007-02-18, 08:47 PM

Technically Pan's Labyrinth was last year, when it was Spanish only, and it was in some theatres here on the 30th of December, so it counts as being the best film of last year.

Tharj TreeSmiter

2007-02-19, 03:59 PM

The Vorpal Tribble

2007-04-11, 11:43 PM

Arcane_Secrets

2007-04-12, 12:29 AM

Ok, bringing this back up from the dead as I plan on seeing the film. However, I no comprende espanol much, so is there an english version or is it just dubbed all the way through like Passion of the Christ?

Also, just out of curiosity, is it a foreign film?

I think it'd be categorized as a foreign film. It's dubbed into English, but I didn't have much trouble following it at all.

Closet_Skeleton

2007-04-12, 05:14 AM

I think it'd be categorized as a foreign film. It's dubbed into English, but I didn't have much trouble following it at all.

[meaningless gloat]Hah! I saw the subtitled version at the cinema I went to.[/meaningless gloat]

Then again, this was the cinema that refused to show the Disney dubs of Studio Ghibli films after the audience complained that the voices were annoying.

adanedhel9

2007-04-12, 07:33 AM

Ok, bringing this back up from the dead as I plan on seeing the film. However, I no comprende espanol much, so is there an english version or is it just dubbed all the way through like Passion of the Christ?

Also, just out of curiosity, is it a foreign film?

It was subbed at my theater, and, as far as I know, there was no pressure for it like at Closet Skeleton's. I would guess that subtitles is the default for the English version of this film.

And yes, it is a foreign film, assuming you don't live in Spain.

Aliquid

2007-04-12, 10:22 AM

[meaningless gloat]Hah! I saw the subtitled version at the cinema I went to.[/meaningless gloat]

Then again, this was the cinema that refused to show the Disney dubs of Studio Ghibli films after the audience complained that the voices were annoying.Same here on both counts. People from the Cinema where I go would spit on the Disney dubs of Ghibli films, and I am glad.

Penguinsushi

2007-04-12, 10:47 AM

I really want to see this movie. I watched the trailer on apple.com and it looks like the kind of movie I would really like (and while I'm amused by almost any movie, there are relatively few serious movies that I'd say I "really like").

I think it comes out on DVD the middle of next month...

~PS

Tharj TreeSmiter

2007-04-12, 03:40 PM

[meaningless gloat]Hah! I saw the subtitled version at the cinema I went to.[/meaningless gloat]

Then again, this was the cinema that refused to show the Disney dubs of Studio Ghibli films after the audience complained that the voices were annoying.

I actually liked hearing it in spanish, because I don't speak it, it helped to create the fantasy world.

The subtitles weren't hard to follow and I'm not a fast reader.

Definitely gonna buy it.

Samiam303

2007-04-12, 03:49 PM

It was subbed at my theater, and, as far as I know, there was no pressure for it like at Closet Skeleton's. I would guess that subtitles is the default for the English version of this film.

And yes, it is a foreign film, assuming you don't live in Spain.
Yeah, the version I saw was subtitles and not dubbed. I don't think the acting would have seemed nearly as good if it wasn't in the natural language.

BrokenButterfly

2007-04-13, 11:01 AM

I rented it not too long ago and I enjoyed it. I don't know if I was a little disappointed about it though, it was very good but I wouldn't call it the masterpiece that others do.

I felt that the violence was fine, with the battle scenes being excellent, and grittily realistic. This surprised me, as I thought that there wouldn't be any, or that they wouldn't work out. Some of the fantasy elements worked better than others I thought, with The Pale Man being the pinnacle of the fantastical here. The ending made my cry, so I guess that the film touched some sort of emotional nerve for me at the end.

Haruki-kun

2007-04-15, 02:26 AM

I want to see it.........
Heck, I'm Mexican! I'm SUPPOSED to see it...... what's wrong with me????

Cyrano

2007-04-15, 11:25 AM

I want to see it.........
Heck, I'm Mexican! I'm SUPPOSED to see it...... what's wrong with me????

Everything. If you have not seen it, why, you hardly even deserve life, you fool! Go! Go and get it! Hurrrryyyy!

PS. Yes, this means I think it rocks. It does. As to the fantasy, who cares? It's better as a mystery.

Glaivemaster

2007-04-15, 12:36 PM

Hmm, I've not seen this third opinion yet:

It was all real, up until the point that the faun told her that she could never become princess. After that, it was fantasy, her just wanting to have what the faun promised her, even though she had made a mistake.

I'm not sure if that explains the mother getting better. I've forgotten if that part is before or after the food and the monster. Escaping from her room could be easily explained, and she just drew chalk on the wall afterwards.

Personally, I'm not sure whether to believe it was real or fantasy, and I don't want to make up my mind. It's so much better if you can stand in the middle and accept both sides

We have it on DVD, and watched it in Spanish. I think it's probably better that way

Ruik

2007-04-16, 06:47 AM

It was better in Spanish... and I liked it a lot... but i'm sorry, I spent the whole movie waiting for her to actually have to go negotiate the labyrinth.

All through the movie actually, right up to the end. Example - she goes into the room with the crazy thing with eye's on his hands, timer runs out, she is trapped. Most people were probably like, 'man she survived!' when she busted out the chalk again and drew a new door. I was frustrated 'cause I though she was finally going to have to, you know, negotiate a labyrinth to get out :smallsigh:

I guess I just missed David Bowie, with his little balls of glowing light and infernal singing...

All that negativity aside though, I did like it for what it was :smallbiggrin:

Tor the Fallen

2007-04-16, 06:50 AM

Ok, bringing this back up from the dead as I plan on seeing the film. However, I no comprende espanol much, so is there an english version or is it just dubbed all the way through like Passion of the Christ?

Also, just out of curiosity, is it a foreign film?

Wasn't one of the things Gibson got so much praise over the Passion was for the total lack of using modern language, and instead had his actors speak latin and aramaic? He did the same thing in Apocolypto.