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Pan's Labyrinth [Blu-ray] 
Actors : Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil
Director : Guillermo del Toro
Studio : New Line
by New Line
Brand : Newline
Release Date : 2007-12-26
Publisher : New Line
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0794043111136
UPC : 794043111136
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 648 reviews)
List Price : $35.99
Our Price : $20.99
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Americancivilwar.com |
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Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, Jorge Luis Borges, and Guillermo del Toro's own unlimited imagination, Pan's Labyrinth is a fairytale for adults. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) may only be 12, but the worlds she inhabits, both above and below ground, are dark as anything del Toro has conjured. Set in rural Spain, circa 1944, Ofelia and her widowed mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil, Belle Epoque), have just moved into an abandoned mill with Carmen's new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi López, With a Friend like Harry). Carmen is pregnant with his son. Other than her sickly mother and kindly housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú, Y Tu Mamá También), the dreamy Ofelia is on her own. Vidal, an exceedingly cruel man, couldn't be bothered. He has informers to torture. Ofelia soon finds that an entire universe exists below the mill. Her guide is the persuasive Faun (Doug Jones, Mimic). As her mother grows weaker, Ofelia spends more and more time in the satyr's labyrinth. He offers to help her out of her predicament if she'll complete three treacherous tasks. Ofelia is willing to try, but does this alternate reality really exist or is it all in her head? Del Toro leaves that up to the viewer to decide in a beautiful, yet brutal twin to The Devil's Backbone, which was also haunted by the ghost of Franco. Though it lacks the humor of Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth represents Guillermo Del Toro at the top of his considerable game. --Kathleen C. Fennessy |
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Product Description |
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Newline Pan's Labyrinth (Blu-ray) From acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro ("Blade 2", "Hellboy") comes a dark supernatural epic about the ultimate battle between good and evil. When young Ofelia and her mother go to live with her new step-father on a rural military outpost, she finds herself in a world of unimaginable cruelty. Soon Ofelia finds the creatures of her imagination in which she used to escape have become a reality and she must battle them to save both her mother and herself. In the terrifying battle that ensues, Ofelia soon learns that innocence has a power that evil cannot imagine. |
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Incredible Movie! |
Fairy tale for adults - extremely well told. Story is predominently built on the extreme contrast between how innocent a child can be versus how incredibly evil a man can be: Good versus Evil set in the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War and in the imagination of a little girl (and how the little girl tries to use that imagination to escape the cold realities of the world). Excellent performances by actors in all featured roles. It's the kind of movie you'll want to see at least twice...and this even though it's subtitled (though the story is so strong that the subtitles don't distract that badly).
Having said that, I do wish that there was a dubbed version of the film. I know that is a sacreligious thing to say in the art film world... but hey - "Life is Beautiful" has a decent dubbed version that works pretty well! |
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Never would be made by Hollywood... |
Can you imagine a director/producer approaching the powers that be in Hollywood and saying "I'd like to make a movie set in an foreign country, during an obscure civil war that involves a little girl, her evil step father and a host of characters straight out of greek mythology..." Yeah...me neither....
Regardless, this film did get made and has found a relatively wide audience here in the U.S...I do not consider myself desensitized to violence or gore and am not a fan of films like SAW, etc., so it shocked me when some reviewers here said they could not take the violence in this film and found it over the top...Anyone remember the REAL story of Red Riding Hood?? Or how bout the REAL Hansel and Grettle?? And yeah...civil wars ARE brutal...I think the more realistic in this case the better...Violence SHOULD disgust and bother you...
As for the actual film itself I found it to be quite enjoyable and different from the normal pablum served up in theaters...The only part I found overrated were the creatures and "special effects" I really didn't find them THAT great or jaw dropping...the faun seemed a bit stilted--too much like the bugs in del Toro's previous film Mimic...and the other creatures while strange looking were not that different from others seen recent films...Del Toro just put them side by side with a child instead of in a horror film...If you want to be able to talk up an interesting film at your next coctail party...this is it... |
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Spanish Fairytales |
This is a superb film from director Guillermo del Toro. Set in 1944 when a last band of rebels are still holding out after the Spanish Civil war has long since finished. Ofelia is a young girl who brought by her mother to see her stepfather a Captain in the army with a sadistic streak. He is leading the fight against the rebels.
All this is interesting and mapped out from the start. However within a short space of time the film takes a huge turn into the world of fantasy. Ofelia is taken by a fairy to a fantasy world under the maze of the films title. On a simple level this is just a young girls escape from the nightmare happening around her, and if you just accept it as that you will still see a great movie.
However Toro uses the fantasy world as a chance to make a movie that works on another level. There are clear references to the holocaust in the film (piles of shoes for one) and the Captain/Stepfather is remarkably similiar to the camp commandant in Schindlers List, both because of his brutal actions, and even visually Toro has picked an actor who looks like Ralph Fiennes. This may be pure coincidence...
This isn't a film I could recommend for small children. Firstly it has some quite unpleasant violence, which in context is completly justified. Secondly some of the imagery is a little too disturbing for youngsters in my view. But at the right age (and I wouldn't like to say what age that should be) its a film for everyone.
Unlike many Hollywood films this resolved without the need for tons of overt sentimentality, people cheering etc. Indeed I thought the ending got the balance just about right. Its a film I shall be watching again. Hopefully next time in HiDef as I imagine this would be a stunning film to see in that format. |
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the perfect fairytale |
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We have seen so much Hollywood garbage we actually forgot fairytales were supposed to be scary, think of " Jack and the Beanstalk " " Hansel and Gretel" those if real would be pretty scary right? Guillermo del Toro's " Pan's Labyrinth" is a about Ofelia, a girl who ailing mother marries a sadistic army officer after her own gentle father dies, she is forced to move with her mother to their new home or rather a quasi miltary base hideaway deep in the woods, a new home she is clearly not welcome in. To cope with this horrible new life, she begins to imagine her world and surroundings as part of a fairytale, and her companion is the very scary looking fawn ( Pan ) and he tells her who she really is... This is an incredible movie that has deep, deep viseral impact, by no means is this lite kids fare, it will grab you and involve you in a way that may surprise many viewers unaware of the genius of Guillermo del Toro. If you are not touched by this film you may be physically dead. by the end we only hope that the fairytale is really the truth for Ofelia and not the horrible reality, absolutely one of the best films of it's year and very highly recommended, and when your done go rent " The Devil's Backbone " as a double feature. |
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Incredible!!! |
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This is one of the best movies I have ever seen in my life. Everything about this movie is just incredibly breath-taking. Honestly, I can't really even express with words how much I freaking love this film. When it first came out in America, I wanted to see it so bad I had to drive two hours to find a theatre that played it. I was blown away by every aspect of this film, the direction, the acting, the story, the creature effects, the editing, the musical score. I loved the music so much, that I instantly searched ever single store, trying to get a hold of the soundtrack. The score to this movie is epic and beautiful. Every time I watch it the end nearly brings me to tears. Thank You, Guillermo Del Toro for such a great film, you are an inspiration to me, and I look eagerly forward to everything that will have your name on it. In fact, I just saw Hellboy 2 last night, and was blown away by that as well, I went home and watched all the special features on my Pan's Labyrinth DVD, rewatched the movie again, and now I am writing this review. When I am done with this, I am going to get back to writing my screenplay I have been working on, because I feel so inspired by his work. |
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