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About three weeks ago, LAist's Elina reviewed the critically acclaimed fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth and gave it a resounding meh.
Elina said then that this film and 2001's The Devil's Backbone (both by director Guillermo del Toro) have a lot of similarities, but sadly Pan's is lacking.
...where The Devil's Backbone uses careful plotting and clever visuals to meticulously interweave the fantastical and realistic narrative threads, Pan's Labyrinth is all baroque styling and tangential plot turns that bog down a fairly thin skeleton of a movie. LAist, 12/30/06One of the commentors on her post accused Elina of many things, including being disingenuous in her review by using a technique of being contrarian.
Since the film was getting overwhelmingly good reviews (currently 96% on Rotten Tomatoes) I decided to screen the movie to see if our Film Editor had lost her damn mind.
What I saw was a very pretty, somewhat trippy, but ultimately empty movie that is in no way recommendable. The characters are flat and predictable, the plot is gaping full of holes, there are no thrills, and ultimately you feel as though the style is only there to distract you from the fact that there's nothing really happening on the screen.
People are calling it "Alice in Wonderland for Adults" but the only things that make it adult are disgusting and could be done in a way that kids could still watch, so why make it "adult" if there's still no edge or depth to it when you do?
I couldn't agree more with Modfab:
There are two precariously conjoined tales in this Labyrinth. One involves a sensitive young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), with a sadistic stepfather and an overactive imagination. The other story is a gritty political drama set against the Spanish Civil War, replete with gun battles, revolutionaries, and battalions. The two plotlines try faintheartedly to merge behind common themes: mindless obeyance versus free thought, valor over despotism. But watching the film, one gets no significant ideological resonance; it feels more like a sadistic mashup of Bridge Over The River Kwai and the duller sequences of The Chronicles of Narnia.So yes, LAist gives Pan's two thumbs down.
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I'm with y'all. No, I guess your displeasure with "Labyrinth" is greater than mine by quite a bit, but I'll confess to being the only one I know who was mostly unimpressed.
While his movie is exceptionally well-made, I thought Del Toro botched the proceedings by setting up parallel worlds that didn't seem all that different from one another. One was oppressive and violent, the other exceptionally dreary and unwelcoming. I was hard-pressed to understand why the little girl would necessarily be drawn to her so-called destiny.
Disagree. Liked Pan's Labyrinth more than Devil's Backbone. Thought the movie did a better job of moving the story along, Backbone was dull and slow, with no real sense of terror. As for those plot holes, it's billed as a fairy tale. I mean, what fairy tale explains it all.
I was going to go see this film because a Del Toro fan was insistent...until she said "Didn't you think Hellboy was genius?"
That pretty much put the kabosh on that shit.
The little girl was drawn towards her destiny as a prncess because she was unhappy with her 'real life.' The fantasy realm was a way to escape the drudgery of what was going on around her. Her step-father was a cold captain she disliked and she lived during a time of civil war! How could you not understand that Hypsesquared? Plus, dont we all want be be fairy princessess? :)
Smo ... the movie you describe is very much the movie I would have liked "Pan's Labyrinth" to be, but the "fantasy realm" that called upon her was as dank and unpleasant as the "real world" was violent and unjust. It offered little or no light, warmth, or love to serve as contrast to the horror of the war. Del Toro set up an empty dichotomy between the two worlds.
If others found something in that Underworld that they would be drawn to, between its capricious gatekeeper; its cold and muddy environs; and the unapproachable king and queen sitting on high in muted gold tones, then sweet on them.
I will say that I'm pleased that something other than the usual Tim Allen sequel or earnest Hollywood message picture is capturing the attention of moviegoers. I just wish I liked it more than I do.
oh boy did it suck. sucked hard. plot holes and unrealistic action/motivation of main characters (kiss of death for me).
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
If its "real" and fantasy world exists in only girls mind, why didn't Mercedes off the Captain when she had chance? Because of her failure the girl dies at the hand of the Captain? What? And why didnt the doctor (or the little girl)dose the Captain? Instead the doc takes it in the back like a good little soldier? Dies a "noble" death?
And in the fantasy world, why does the girl linger in the banquet hall? why does she eat the grapes and brush away the fairies? wouldn't happen, fantasy or no fanatsy. and then she gets a "second chance"?
but the real problem I had was with the violence and gore for only violence and gore sake. We already hated the Captain, didnt need to see torture. I don't find that entertaining...