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large releases, by far.
Pan's Labyrynth, of course!
I tried not to read too much into the fantasy part of it, chosing rather to see it as the----SPOILER!!!-----young girl's escapism.
The parallel story of the fascist vs. rebels I found mundane, overly brutal in its sadistic details, but nicely counter-balanced by the fantastic (though it, understandably, had its gruesome details).
The young actress is a revelation: her portrayal is worth the 2-hours, alone.
The strong governess/housekeeper also was well-acted, with not a bit of the aggrandizing one has come to expect from Hollywood.
However, one unfortunate aspect of the film was the overuse of FX. It almost seems that producers get money with strings attached that demand they "kick back" a percentage to effects, though I'm only going on reasoning here. I can't think of another reason for such excess.
The same theme was covered quite the better in "Spirit of the Beehive" though I don't mean to say PL isn't a very good film. It is.
See it.
Follow Ups:
It is a little more gruesome than I would like and some of the story could have been developed better for my tastes (like between the girl and her mother) but it was an amazingly brisk 2 hours and the director probably made the best choices to tell the story in the time he had. Never a dull moment really and visual textures so rich you could almost eat them. None of the acting or dialogue was over done but tasteful/believable instead.
Director Guillermo del Toro *likes* FX.He's had this movie in his head for some time, BTW...along with the visual images (there's storyboards and diaries he drew over the years with images similar to the finished film).
Like them or not, the make-up, CGI et al are used by del Toro to tell the story the way he wants to.
He reserves the box office FX for his hollywood fare like Daredevil.
But never doubt that this is the film he wanted to make and that it was made the way he wanted it.
Spirit of the Beehive is maybe a better movie and it's surely a great one, but I thought Pan's Labyrinth was quite wonderful in its own way.
It is, BTW, a companion film to The Devil's Backbone, which I assume you've seen.
facts, which I am not privy to!
I have immense respect for del Toro though I think he needs to trust to the imagination of his viewers more. I can't think of a good reason to have so much on-screen violence and FX. It detracts and adds sensationalism: and it's SOOOOOO post-2000. If I want over-the-top violence I'll see Wolf Creek or some other blood-dripping dreck. The skill of a director such as he should be able to accomplish all w/out resorting to such overkill.
I'll see "The Devil's Backbone," again. I liked it but nowhere near as much as PL.
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