Oh, I thought it had something to do with

Like the perfect cross between Miyazaki, Jim Henson and Donnie Darko mayhaps?

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.

is it worth seeing though?

Well my friends liked it, had emotional reactions ’n’ everything, and all the reviews I’ve seen have been +ve. I think my lack of reaction was anomolous, and if you liked the trailer and have a thing for realistic and allegorical dark fantasy, then go for it.

SPOILER ALERT on thread title maybe?

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!”

it was very diverting.

There’s a quote from the director, Guillermo Del Toro: “Imagination is disobedience, and that is what Pan’s Labyrinth is about.”

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.

Gah this movie bothers me cos everyone seems to like it (friends and critics too) and it left me cold, just like it did ledge. Everything ledge says about this movie rings true to my ears. Also, there was one trick he kept doing while filming that really annoyed me : he tracks somebody in the forest, tree appears in front of camera and screen turns dark and another scene starts.

POST CONTAINS BIG SPOILER

I didnt like this. Although I liked lots of things about it.

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.

the fantasy ended up just being ‘well, at least she died happy’ instead of, like, a positive thing.

I so want to see this...and Children of Men. Been a long time since anything I want to see in a theatre proper has shown up.

I want to see this too.

I feel bad for the possible SPOILERS, anyone who hasn’t seen it:

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.

WITHOUT SPOILERS:

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

“She left traces of her time on Earth, visible only to those who knew where to look”

Best movie of 2006 by a considerable margin, as far as I was concerned.

uh yeah if someone wants to edit SPOILERS above my post that would be cool, totally my fault.

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.

MORE SPOILERS

It refused to look away and it was stunning that way...omg @ the stitches scene

SPOILER:

At the end, Is there an implication that Ofelia is not innocent (unlike her brother)? If so, why isn’t she innocent?

argh

worst spoilers ever on this thread

seriously, you bastards

I at least used disclaimer.

yeah why did you guys make me read this wtf

...my bad

cant someone just mod-‘spoilers’ above my post?

BIG thanks

At the end, Is there an implication that Ofelia is not innocent (unlike her brother)?

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.

Best movie of 2006 by a considerable margin, as far as I was concerned.

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.

SPOILER

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.

I was totally cold on this a half-hour in — except on a craft level, ie frog barfing up innards — but came around. I like that people are going in expecting fantasy and getting so much Fascist feel-bad; it’d be great to lure suburban families in with “The story of a girl and her marvelous adventures!” Way bleaker than even The Devil’s Backbone; apparently del Toro turned down Narnia, but this seems very Catholic.

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

Yeah, I thought the same of the catholic thing. The ending, anyway. Didn’t soil it for me though.