Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto Del Fauno)

I was super excited to be able to go see Pan's Labyrinth at the Belcourt Theater yesterday due to all the great anticipation it got and because of the high probability that it will be stealing all of the academy awards this year. I was furthermore interested in the movie after seeing Children of Men last week, which was directed by one-third of the trio of Mexican directors that have been hailed as the new artistic masterminds of film. Pan's Labyrinth features one of the other two directers, Guillermo Del Toro, as well as Alfonso Cuaron (directer of Children of Men), who this time takes the role of producer.

To my utter dissapointment, Pan's just didn't do it for me. Nor for the guy sitting next to me, apparently, who left the movie half way in. Part of me wishes I would have followed him. Don't get me wrong, there were some who liked it, but I was really just uncomfortable during the entire stretch of the film. The fantasy element was indeed visionary in its elaborate artistic measures, but lacked a sufficient story to sustain the film and hold audience interest, especially given the fact that the story's "real" plot (during the fascist rule of Spain) only offered darkness, blood, torture, and despair. Even the fantasy was a far stretch from the happy dreamings of a young girl's mind and instead were full of dark, disturbing images.

Not that I just didn't like the movie because it wasn't all happy and fuzzy, I just did not think it was a very compelling story. The connections and "aha!" moments that were supposed to enrich the tale were predictable and overly obvious. I'm a firm believer in "less is more" as far as violence and blood go, but it's evident that Del Toro isn't. The amount of not only violence, but obscure, overly grotesque violence did nothing to add to the story for me. In fact, the only thing it did was have me looking for the exit signs. Though, I guess you can't expect anything else from a director who turned down "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" because he reportedly had "no interest in bringing Aslan back to life."

In the end, it was a great artistic masterpeice filled with talented cinematography and CG effects, but it lacked a cohesive story that the audience could fully buy into and very little light at the end of a deep, dark, cinematic tunnel.