Pan's Labyrinth - Film by Guillermo Del Toro - Page 9

ryanj247 · #81 02-12-2007, 03:01 AM

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I didnt think it was that great. Pretty boring.

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i'm with you. i give this movie a solid "meh".

i'm not into the sci-fi stuff at all. i've never ever bothered to watch the LOTR movies. but i decided to give this one a chance because people kept saying it was so good, and downplaying the sci-fi aspect of it.

well, i could have tolerated all the fairy tale stuff if they kept it separate from the real story. real action, then go to fantasy action, then back to real action. but the way they mix the two just didn't work for me at all. (spoiler in white

wtf, the labryinth wall melts for the girl, but not for the captain? that's retarded. right then i wanted to walk out even though i knew the movie was almost over.

the movie kept my attention, but i really don't see much about it that is exceptional. i'd give it about a 6/10.

btw, people in this country make me [censored] sick. wtf is with families of 6 coming into a movie 25 minutes late and chatting loudly amongst themselves as they make repeated trips in and out of the theater to get sodas and popcorn? and when they get "shushed", the dad tries to pick a fight. what?? STFU you self-absorbed classless pieces of [censored]!

Sciolist · #82 02-12-2007, 03:15 AM

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 wtf, the labryinth wall melts for the girl, but not for the captain? that's retarded. right then i wanted to walk out even though i knew the movie was almost over.

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Yes, I quote spoilers. So you were unhappy with one fantasy element, whilst the rest of it (e.g, 75% of the movie) wasn't a problem? It's OK to put a weird root that acts a bit like an infant and is fed by two drops of blood every day under someone's bed to cure them, but it's not OK for a wall to part for a girl? That's a pretty strange attitude to have.

Also, if someone breaks the rules etc in a cinema and threatens to hit you, you can probably go get them thrown out. Petty, yet satisfying.

TheCroShow · #83 02-12-2007, 03:37 AM

i don't understand why people are so offended by the violence in this movie. is it because they are expecting a family movie? please explain

ryanj247 · #84 02-12-2007, 03:45 AM

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 wtf, the labryinth wall melts for the girl, but not for the captain? that's retarded. right then i wanted to walk out even though i knew the movie was almost over.

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Yes, I quote spoilers. So you were unhappy with one fantasy element, whilst the rest of it (e.g, 75% of the movie) wasn't a problem? It's OK to put a weird root that acts a bit like an infant and is fed by two drops of blood every day under someone's bed to cure them, but it's not OK for a wall to part for a girl? That's a pretty strange attitude to have.

Also, if someone breaks the rules etc in a cinema and threatens to hit you, you can probably go get them thrown out. Petty, yet satisfying.

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the instance i pointed out was the scene that struck me as the best example of what i did not like about the film. there were others that were not quite as bad.

(in white below

the root is an example of something that i was ok with. it wasn't "alive" for anyone other than the girl. the mother getting better can be explained in "reality" as a concidence, or whatever. that works.

but there's no way to explain how, in reality, the girl got to the dead end in the labryinth, but when the captain chasing her got there, she wasn't there.

bwana devil · #85 02-12-2007, 10:27 AM

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i don't understand why people are so offended by the violence in this movie. is it because they are expecting a family movie? please explain

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the violence disgusted me and i left the theatre before the show was over because of it but i wasnt offended. from what ive read no one has claimed to be offended by it in this thread.

im surprised more reviewers in the mainstream media havent discussed the violence. to me only so much violence was necessary and above and beyond that it didnt push the story line. we all knew who the good guys and bad guys were. we didnt need yet another torture scene to spell it out for us. but to call it offended, no i wasnt. if that's what the general audience was happy and comfortable w/, have it. just wasnt my cup of tea.

AEKDBet · #86 02-12-2007, 12:12 PM

The point isn't weather it was "real" or in her head.

The point is weather or not you choose to believe in the magic yourself, as arguments can go both ways.

If you choose no, for the sake of realism and in spite of the story, then you are an idiot.

sightless · #87 02-12-2007, 01:05 PM

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The scene where the girl ate the grapes was so lame. I really wish that didn't happen. 

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I agree that seemed out of character thing for her to do.

the movie had some flaws... but oevrall it was very enjoyable and one of the better novies of the year.

private joker · #88 02-12-2007, 04:57 PM

Spoilers, etc.

It seems nobody brought up the point of the magical world stuff, which was to parallel the resistance. The faun was a fascist element, testing Ofelia to see if she would obey orders without questioning. When she ultimately disobeyed the faun/power figure, she proved to be the greatest resistance in the underworld -- a stirring allegory for what was going on with the Captain's men being charged and overthrown by the Spanish resistance.

I liked the flick a lot. 8/10. I don't know why people in this thread are comparing it to Children of Men. What do they have in common?

AEKDBet · #89 02-12-2007, 05:20 PM

Interesting PJ. My thought was on the dichotomy between El Capitain, and Ophelia.

El Capitain - fear of death, always checking his watch, wanting to live forever / fighting mortality. Trying to control that which he cannot. All these things stem from his fear of dying.

Ophelia died with a smile on her face. She enjoyed life as it came to her, and because we got to watch that, the story was beautiful at the event of her death, full circle.

burningyen · #90 02-12-2007, 05:51 PM

7.5/10. On the whole, I liked it. Decent story, good acting, well shot and thought-provoking. The violence was brutal and intimate and IMHO a tad overboard. Children of Men is better, but both movies suffer from being way overhyped. Spoiler discussion in white below:

There's nothing in the movie that requires the fantasy sequences to be real. The whole business about the chalk and the mandrake root and how it's impossible to explain the plot if it was all in her head misses the point. Delusional people interpret events to fit their version of reality. It's interesting that the story starts with Ofelia getting shot. The entire movie could just be the story she makes up to make sense of her own senseless death. In that way, this movie has a lot in common with movies like Big Fish in asking us where we find meaning in our lives -- fantasy or reality. And if life is all in our heads, anyway, then why not embrace our delusions?

Also, the grapes were probably enchanted.