Pan's Labyrinth

[Iain]

Anyone else seen this? Thoughts?

It seemed almost brilliant. I can see the link with Hellboy, but the Blade II link surprised me somewhat. Apparently del Toro has announced another Spanish Civil War related project (3993) which also sounds pretty interesting and somewhat unusual.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I saw it and thought it was a great movie.  The concept of a fairytale fantasy movie written for adults seems pretty dumb on the surface, but it made for an exceptional movie.  Mainstream Hollywood seems in capable of coming up with anything new or different, so I'm glad others are stepping up to the plate. 

What were the links with Hellboy and Blade II?

[Iain]

Guillermo del Toro directed all three and wrote the screenplay for Pan's Labyrinth. There's a new Hellboy on the way it seems.

I find the Spanish Civil War pretty interesting, I wondered why the film was set in '44 rather than during the actual conflict itself. As a fairytale it was a really dark one, not one to show young kids, I'm particularly thinking of the actions of the Captain throughout the film.

You'd expect the little girl to find a fantasy world and escape from the tribulations of real life, perhaps like the Pevensey kids did during WWII. Instead she had to endure the very worst (trying not to give too much away) and that seemed very original to me.

[Lo.Com.Denom]

Labyrinth + CGI Pan - David Bowie in tight trousers + violence x Franco's Spain = 

I saw Mark Kermode raving about how good it is, on TV, before Christmas. I probably would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if he hadn't raised my expectations. Also, I thought it followed the archetypical faerytale / Vladimir Propp pattern a bit too religiously at times, but that's a minor criticism.

All in all, I did enjoy it a lot. The setting was intriguing and the CGI didn't look out of place, when it was used. In fact, the dreamlike quality of the whole film stayed with me for a day or two afterwards -- sitting in the pub, after the film, I kept expecting strange creatures to emerge out of the woodwork and doorways to open in the shadows! No film has had such an imaginative effect on me, since childhood, to be honest.

I can live without Hellboy and Blade 2, though...