have we had a thread for Pan's Labyrinth yet? OKAY ENTIRE THREAD FULL OF SPOILERS NOW

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/images/bank/general/300pans_people.jpg

Or Lewis Carroll, Terry Gilliam and [insert war film of choice], or...

Yeah, you could see aspects of all of those things in there. In theory it was pretty well done, the idea of the girl trying to escape from reality into her imagination was a good one, and some of the fairytale parts were imaginative and convincingly executed - but the way they were presented as little vignettes meant it wasn't as immersive as Spirited Away, and I couldn't lose myself in her fantasy world. In fact I had trouble empathising or sympathising with anyone in the film really. Maybe I'm just a cold heartless bastard.

I thought it was great (jeez i really do love everything at the moment...) but it was pretty bleak. By the time the fascists had killed the nth random person I was (internally) screaming "yeah I get it - fascists are bad!"

Understanding that is what provided the emotional whack for me, I think, though for a large part of the film I kind of agreed with ledge's problem with the non-immersive vignette-ish nature of it all. But it all slotted properly into place at the end for me. I too, came out of the cinema VERY ANTI-FASCIST.

See it for the Pale Man's banquet, if nothing else.

the fantasy was undercut by that stupid reveal shot where her stepfather couldn't see the fawn; it just made the girl's 'imagination' appear to actually be 'insanity' and it would have been better if they hadn't completely decimated yr questioning the fantasy...I mean, in the end, if she hadn't had the fantasy maybe she wouldn't have been killed...? her stepfather wasn't interested in killing his son, so how was she protecting him?

It came apart at the end and made her fantasy just seem like delusion instead of confrontation.

I didn't feel like the Captain's inability to see Pan & the gateway etc took away from the realism of the fantasy elements, after all, the gateway/world was hers alone to go to. I will admit that it was a little convenient, but I thought it made for a perfect, synchronized conclusion to both the real and fantasy story elements.

I was very shocked I think at the realism of the brutality in this film.

I just would have preferred that they not undercut the fantasy by fully seperating it from the real world, to make it exist beyond the kid's brain.

worst spoilers ever on this thread

No, because her blood opens the gate, so she was an innocent. And the test was whether she would spill the blood of someone else.

Agreed. I will say more about this in a blog post or on real ILX or somewhere soon but this floored me on several levels.

Agreed x2! Fantastic stuff all round, but my lasting memory seems to be the brutality of it. That farmer boy's face being stoved in at the start? OOF!! Put any Scorcese/Joe Pesci beating to shame. And I don't think I've ever felt an entire audience squrim for so long as during the stitches scene.

The Capitan was one of the more convincing villains of the year.