I had been dying to see Pan’s Labyrinth, despite the fact that the director directed Hell Boy (which I’ve heard bad things about) and some other movie that I didn’t like very much and can’t remember the name of. As a rule I don’t like subtitled movies because I find it hard to follow the action when I keep having to look at the bottom of the screen to see the dialogue (dubbed movies are far worse, which is why all foreign films fall into the ‘subtitled’ category). I was uber-excited to see it though, and it’s in Spanish, which is a plus for me, because I could kind of follow what they were saying (Hablo espanol, pero no muy bien).
The acting was brilliant, the music was beautiful, the photography was spectacular, and the special effects were amazing. The story was original and compelling. All that being said, I think this is the singularly most disturbing movie I have ever seen in my life. If you have a weak stomach, I suggest you keep away, and if you were planning on taking any children to see it, for the love of all that is holy, don’t.
I don’t want to give too much of it away, for those of you who have a strong stomach, and aren’t planning on taking kids, so I’ll just give a quick overview: basically it has all the elements of the classic fairytale, IE: secret birthrights, evil step-parent, quests, woodland creatures, etc. It also has the battle scenes of a war movie, the suspense of a thriller, and the horror of a horror movie (but a horrifying one, not some crap-assed pretend horror movie).
So, once again, I find myself at odds over my feelings about a movie. On the one hand, I can appreciate it’s cinematic value, but on the other hand, it was really very upsetting for me, and I don’t think I’ll be watching it again any time soon (if ever). Well, that’s me.