Barrett and I watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. Him for the first time, me for the second. Despite the overwhelming plot jumps and reaching for believability...it was just plain BORING. I don't think the whole juxtapozing of period piece with fantasy piece worked at all. Either give me a movie about the 1940's Spanish Guerillas or one about a little girl trying to get into her own wonderland...not both. You're constantly trying to care about two completely different subjects, both totally different from one another. I think it comes off as a total waste of two hours, spent either wondering what was actually going on in Spain in the 1940's or gazing at the pretty colors of the CGI...which is such an easy fucking cop-out for "good movies" these days. The other thing is it is trying to relate Fairy Tales to something grown people can care about and be amused by, because this is obviously NOT a kids movie. Smashing a rebel in the face with a bottle until you can blatantly see his face caved in is not something I'd want any child to see...yet what mature adult is going to be entertained by the quest of a fantasy princess to sit on her throne for many centuries? The ultimate case for why this movie has gotten so much good press is that it succeeds in being a giant DISTRACTION. Don't get me wrong I'm all for artful pieces relieving our overly stressed minds from our day-to-day...but give me a story to get into either fictional or non, rather than throwing millions of dollars at a computer and set design hoping to get a catchy story line out of it.
Bottom line...see Devil's Backbone instead.
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