DVD Reviews - Pan's Labyrinth
Got a slew of DVD reviews today so I'll try to keep them to the point.
"Pan's Labyrinth" is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother's new husband in a rural area up North in Spain, 1944, after Franco's victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. Fascist repression during the first years of Franco's dictatorship is at its height in rural Spain and the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own.
*** Minor Spoilers within ****
First off this is a Spanish film so if you hate reading subtitles, don't bother watching this film. This film won rave and numerous reviews for being ground breaking and etc. To be honest, it is good. Its not what I was expecting at all. The show is touted to be a fantasy and it is to an extent. The fantasy aspect and creations is equal to anything that Jim Henson and George Lukas have come up with and is beautiful. But the fantasy portion of the movie is only about 40% of the story, the rest of the story is set in 1944 and is pretty depressing. Now don't let that turn you off the show because although its depressing, its also exceptionally well done and the show draws you in.
Its one of those thought provoking movies that will spark vigorous debate, At the end, (I won't tell you what happens but its not happy), essentially the entire fantasy portion of the movie could easily have been one little girl's imagination, which is very intriguing because then the story becomes about how the girl created the entire fantasy to escape her reality.
All in all its a great movie although I hesitate to label it as fantasy just because its got some fantasy aspects to it. I don't recommend this for children under 13 because there is blood, violence, and torture. I'm also not sure I'd buy a copy for my collection because its too depressing to watch over and over. Get it as a rental.
I rate this show a 4/5.
Labels: Movies
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