Pan's Labyrinth [SOUNDTRACK]

Javier Navarrete (Composer)

Product Details

• Composer: Javier Navarrete
• Audio CD (December 19, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Milan Records
• ASIN: B000JU8HII
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,067 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Too many soundtracks feel interchangeable, and rare are the composers who really capture a movie's core. But Javier Navarrete has succeeded in his Oscar-nominated score for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, a dark fantasy set in 1944 Spain. The first cue, "Long, Long Time Ago," sets the melancholy tone with piano and voice; the spectral piano pops up several more times, and the theme is more fully developed in "Mercedes Lullaby." But it's the second track, the aptly titled "The Labyrinth," that really gives the listener insight into the movie's tenebrous universe. While Navarrete can certainly do short, intimate pieces dotted with telling arrangements (like the few trumpet notes adding a subtle Spanish flavor to "Rose, Dragon"), he excels on the longer tracks, such as "Not Human," which goes through a succession of moods, each one increasingly scary, without ever going overboard into cheap, demonstrative effects. Navarrete has already had a long career as a film scorer in Spain, and this won't be the last American audiences hear from him. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Product Description
Sountrack to director Guillermo del Toro's 2006 horror/fantasy film starring Ivana Baquero.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and magical, January 11, 2007

By	A. Davila "Armandito" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wil admit that I am an avid purchaser of movie scores/soundtracks so I don't know how objective this review can be, but I will say that for people who buy soundtracks and listen to them regularly, this one is extremely well orchestrated and choreographed. It is definitely in the league of film soundtracks like Gladiator and House of Flying Daggers, two other great scores.

My litmus test with soundtracks is if they survive a good listening experience on their own as either classical pieces or showtune type songs and this one does it better than most.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, epic soundtrack, January 13, 2007

By	Manny Hernandez "Author of Ning For Dummies" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Not having seen "Pan's Labyrinth" yet, I can only imagine how it can be, after having listened to the soundtrack a few times. Spanish-born Javier Navarrete adds music to Guillermo del Toro's most recent production, in a style the meets halfway between the works of Howard Shore in "Lord Of The Rings" and Alberto Iglesias in any of the scores he composed to go with Almodovar's movies. The result is a haunting, epic sound that goes perfectly with the dark feel of the movie (judging from its trailer). Since I got it, it's been playing non-stop on my iTunes.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Lullaby, February 16, 2007

By	Daniel W. Fucello (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the liner notes to this soundtrack, Mr. del Toro describes how the film itself is a bedtime story and how it required a lullaby to carry the tale from start to finish. Javier Navarrete's score nailed it. The film is breathtakingly beautiful with an unforgettable story filled with eye candy start to finish, but del Toro was correct, the soundtrack was the glue that made this film seamless. I found despite all the shockingly graphic and beautiful imagery in the film, it was the soundtrack that was haunting me, (that and the pale man scene *shiver*). No surprises here folks, no bonus material or cheesy love song vocal sung by one of the myriad of american pop singers that soundtracks love to include for a selling point, just a chillingly beautiful orchestral score from start to finish.