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This is not in english. Even though its advertised that it is. Sadly I did not watch it until the return date had expired. This is a great movie I was looking foreward to watching the 4k only to find its in spanish with no english subtitles! Buyer beware.
Let me start this review by giving some details about the genre of story telling we know as "Fairy Tales". This genre of known as "Fairy Tales" was never originally intended for children. In fact there is a lot of historical evidence which points to the fact that most of these old stories were written by adults and meant only for adults.
The original nature of "Fairy Tales" was not meant to make you feel all good inside and nor were they to always end with "And they all lived happily ever after...The End". As others have pointed out we can all blame Disney for "dumbing" down this type of genre of story telling. Neither was this form of story telling meant to always include "High Fantasy". A lot of "Fairy Tales" actually have only bits and pieces of fantasy in them to help further a story along and to draw in the listener/viewer/reader further into the plot.
I wont go to deep into the plot of this film but the director Guillermo Del Toro seems to go back to the roots of the original and lost art form of "Fairy Tales". Guillermo Del Toro in my honest opinion does an outstanding job of interweaving fantasy with reality. Yet he does not allow the fantasy portions of this film to overwhelm the reality based portions or the viewer. The fantasy portions are meant to force you to make that extra emotional leap. To engage you further into a main story which is all so cruelly based in reality. The reality being the post-Spanish Civil War era in Spain and a little girl with a cruel and self-absorbed step-father who is an officer in the Franco's fascists military. Guillermo Del Toro then wraps it up with a great group of actors and a hard hitting ending.
My only complaint is that as others have noted the fantasy portion at the end might have been added to appease American audiences. You'll know what I mean when you see the movie and get to that part. The reality portion of the ending stood strong without the need to include a semi-happy ending if you can call it one. The movie does hit the viewer very hard emotionally. Frankly speaking I'll be honest and admit that as a man I did cry at end.
I couldn't help it because maybe I just have a heart and a soft spot for kids. I feel that any movie, book, song, poem, etc that can draw out a strong emotional reaction has reached the apex of its art form in its given genre. Oh and yes there are portions of this film that are extremely violent and should not be viewed by younger children. As others have noted this move has an "R" rating for a very good reason as it's meant for adults only. Besides I'll doubt that many young children could keep up with a foreign film done entirely in Spanish let alone understand the slight and subtle plot twists of this movie including the ending.
P.S. This is a master piece of a film. To dub this film into English would be like dubbing Karl Orff's vocal portions of "Carmina Burana" into English. For those who are angry that this movie is done entirely in Spanish well all I can say is that you should learn to speak a second language for goodness sake! Or just learn to deal with subtitles in foreign films and try to follow along with the story as best you can.
Our society is going to become increasingly more globally oriented as technology and time march onward toward the future. The very nature of our increasingly global economy will demand that you if not your children learn at least a second language. This will grow increasingly true for every other generation hence afterwards when you, I and your children's generation are no more.
If you had no idea that this movie was a foreign film then I can understand and forgive the confusion but at least try to give this film a chance.
This movie explores the imagination of the heroine, who is arguably highly delusional due to significant stress of WWII conflict in Spain between her fascist stepdad and the communists in the woods. She goes on adventures as kind of a "side show" to the main plot of the movie, and in the end, it is still questionable what the actual premise of the story was. This movie is great for people who believe in faith as well as cynics of faith, because it really doesn't describe which side was actually real. As well the fascist was very convincing and not altogether unreasonable, and it depicts the communists as being apparently loving. For a story of good vs evil, this movie does a great job of making it all look reasonable.
This is one of the most imaginative and unique films I have seen in years. It is a dark fairy tale for adults and is not a children's movie. The film is a mixture of fairy tale and dark realism since it combines images from the Mediterranean's pre-Christian mythologies with the horror of Fascism in Franco's Spain. The overlap between these two concepts, classical mythology and fascism, is violence and threat as well as unreasonable power over the powerless. Myths often involve heroic action, often taken by an innocent person or child, that helps overcome the forces of evil. The film is very skillful in combining these concepts where they are verbalized by the mythical creatures but we see a parallel world in reality as the rustic peasants develop resistance to the forces of fascism. The transitional character between the fantasy world of mythology and the harsh world of fascist reality is a little girl, the daughter of the new wife of a Fascist officer. She travels between these world through an ancient labyrinth hidden in the woods outside the fascist compound. Here she meets mischievous fairies but also a somewhat threatening and mysterious faun who is ambiguous as to his full intentions. The faun is identified as Pan, the child of the god Hermes, who was the god of transitions and doorways. She is told she is the Princess Moana and must undertake 3 tasks to gain her rightful throne. As in many myths, this child is given three tasks to claim their rightful position with the gods. This puts our young heroine into danger not only when she is in the labyrinth performing tasks but also when she is with her mother and step-father among the fascist and hidden resistance fighters. The adventures within the mythological world with a giant toad full of slime to an amazing monster who is awakened when someone eats from his table and who sees through eyeballs in the palms of his hands. To achieve the tasks prescribed by the gods and to overcome the evils of fascism, resilience and creativity are required and so once again we see overlap between the two worlds. Monstrosity can be reflected in the world of imaginary monsters but also in the acts of the fascists as they torture and kill innocent villagers as well as resistance fighters. The young female protagonist is not fully protected from the evil of her step-father by her weak mother, suffering with a difficult pregnancy and childbirth. She does not feel fully protected and she is indeed vulnerable to the dark gaze of her dark murderous step-father. She is most protected by the housekeeper who plays many roles in this complex film. Children may retreat into fantasy when threatened but this poor little girl finds a fantasy world that demand much of her and a real world full of real dark threats. This film has some of the best integration of fantasy and reality since A.S. Byatt's the Dijin in the Nightingale's Eye or the works of Borges. This film has a different feel to it from a Hollywood production, since it has some ragged ends and images that are more European than North American. This is part of the film's strength. The Pan creature for example would have probably been more of a Santa Claus with goat legs if the film had been made in Hollywood. Instead, he is mysterious and ambiguous in a world with little clarity.
The child actress Ivana Baquero plays the child Ofelia. She does a super job. Sergi Lopez plays her evil, cruel, fascist step-father Captain Vidal. He is an excellent actor and he has the ability to radiate threat on the screen. All scripts, sets, costumes, special effects, and cinematography were excellent. It all comes together into a great film.
Un 10 para la edición de UK, soberbia calidad de imagen y sonido ambos de referencia en alta definición. Si duda la mejor edición mundial que hay ahora mismo ( dejando de lado los extras y presentación del Producto ). Menú con efectos bien presentados y buena cantidad de extras sin subtitulos en español. La película al ser grabada en español tiene subtitulos no quemados en ingles por lo que no hay problemas a la hora del visionado ( se puede ver en su versión original sin ningún tipo de molestias ). Al que le guste la película le recomiendo esta edición totalmente porque no se arrepentira en absoluto del producto.
Guillermo del Toross neuer Streich ist ein starker Film, mit sehr guten Schauspielern (Sergi López als Capitán Vidal, Ivana Baquero als Ofelia und Maribel Verdú als Mercedes) einem phantastischem Score (Javier Navarrete), einer genialen Kameraarbeit (Guillermo Navarro) und einer phantastischen Story (Guillermo del Toro) im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Durch den guten Schnitt von Bernat Vilaplana, sind die Szenenübergänge sehr flüssig und man kann der Story immer gut folgen. Hört sich vielleicht für den einen oder anderen Leser hier ein bisschen übertrieben an, aber wer diesen Film nicht im Kino sieht, der wird es im nachhinein bereuen und das sage ich nicht nur aus einer überschwänglichen Laune heraus. Del Toro steht nicht für normale" Kinounterhaltung, seine Filme sind immer etwas außergewöhnlich bzw. anders, und Pans Labyrinth ist bis jetzt sein bester. Mich hat der Film auch ein bisschen an Alice im Wunderland erinnert, was nicht als negativ aufgefasst werden darf. Grausame Umstände lassen ein Mädchen in eine unterirdische Fantasiewelt flüchten, in der sie auf unheimliche und fabelhafte Kreaturen trifft, die ihr drei Mutproben auferlegen und sie mit ihren Ängsten konfrontieren.
Pans Labyrinth kann man nicht beschreiben aber wenn ich es in drei Worten tun müsste, dann würde ich ihn als "grausam, unwirklich und schön" bezeichnen. Der Film ist sehr gewalttätig und wer das kritisiert, hat die Aussage vom Regisseur nicht verstanden. Es geht im Film um die "grausame Wirklichkeit (Realität)" und die Bestie KRIEG, welche aus den Menschen Monster macht. Der Capitán ist dieses Monster, welcher blind Befehle befolgt und zu jeder Grausamkeit bereit ist. Ofelia flieht vor dieser grausamen Wirklichkeit in Pans Labyrinth und am Ende vermischt sich alles zu einer phantastischen Realität. Dabei hat die Filmmusik einen immer wieder auf die Situation perfekt eingestimmt.
Helden sind für mich immer solche Menschen, die sich überhaupt nicht als Helden sehen. Deswegen war ich von Maribel Verdú als Mercedes mehr als nur begeistert. Sie verkörpert eine unglaubliche Stärke und Entschlossenheit, dabei ist sie nur die Küchenmagd. Persönlich hätte ich mir gewünscht, dass die Rebellen ein bisschen besser beleuchtet werden. Dass ist auch mein einziger Kritikpunkt und der Grund warum der Film keine volle Punktzahl erhalten hat. Dadurch wirkt der Film ein bisschen wie schwarz/weiß Malerei. Auf der einen Seite die bösen Faschisten und auf der anderen die guten Rebellen, welche Gewalt mit Gegengewalt bekämpfen.
Die Kreaturen der Unterwelt tragen viel zu diesem phantastischen Film bei. Was hier die SFX-Schmiede geschaffen hat, hat man so noch nicht gesehen. Der Pan ist einmalig und war so noch nie in dieser Form auf der Kinoleinwand zu sehen. Seine Stimme, die Bewegungen und viele kleine Details wie z.B. das Knirschen von Ästen, wenn er sich bewegt, tragen viel zu seiner Glaubwürdigkeit bei. Die abstrakte und sehr angsteinflößende Kinderfresser-Kreatur, mit seinem knochigen Körper, der faltigen weißen Haut und seinen Augen in den Handflächen, wurde auch perfekt in Szene gesetzt. Die Kröte in der ersten Aufgabe wirkte dagegen ein bisschen künstlich und war einfach nur eklig.
Nach dem Ende bleibt man im Kinosessel sitzen und muss den Film verdauen. Das Ende ist perfekt und kann von Person zu Person anders aufgefasst werden. Ich persönlich bin ein rationaler Mensch und hatte meine Version vom Ende. Meine Freundin dagegen klatscht jedes Mal bei Peter Pan um Glöckchen zu retten und ihr Ende von Pans Labyrinth ist demnach ganz anders. Am Ende bleibt es jedem selbst überlassen, was er glauben will! Darüber eine Diskussion zu führen ist sinnlos.
Fazit:
Genießt dieses Meisterwerk aber geht nicht mit falschen Erwartungen in den Film! Es ist kein Horrorfilm, sondern ein Fantasy/Kriegsdrama!!! Wenn dieser Film keinen Oscar gewinnt, dann weiß ich wirklich nicht weiter. Pans Labyrinth ist nicht nur ein Meisterwerk, sondern auch ein Kunstwerk und sollte von jedem anspruchsvollem Kinogänger gesehen werden. Für mich bis jetzt (23.02.2007) der stärkste Film des Jahres!