Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Pan's Fantasy/Reality


Probably the best thing about this film, other than the story, is the creature designs.  I always like Del Torro's monsters.  His mind comes up with the most interesting and striking images I have seen on film.  This movie and Hellboy are proof of that.  I do not think there are any writers/directors that really use their imagination like he does.  His is very unbridled and open.  I think we are in a phase where most of the movies that come out are ultra realistic, and stray away from fairy tale like fantasy.  I don't want to say this bothers me, but I wish it was the other way around.  I enjoy sci-fi and fantasy more than most genres, and I think they provide the viewer with different perspectives and usually richer stories simply because of how open they are.  Movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are some of my favorite films.  One reason is because they provide me with an escape, and it is almost like you are leaving reality when you watch them.  Del Torro is actually doing work on the upcoming Hobit trilogy.  So I am excited about that. 

I think the characters were very rich in Pan's Labyrinth, especially Ofelia and Vidal.  I really liked the contrast between the two.  It was almost like night and day, and I feel you could really feel it through the movie.  It is almost like you had these two characters at the opposite ends of the spectrum and then a bunch of characters that filled in between the two.  It was the collision of ultimate control vs. child like freedom, arguably the most pure freedom.  I enjoyed how open to interpretation the end was.  It really depended on your own perspective if what she saw and experienced was real or not.  I always find it interesting how people interpret these kinds of endings.  It can say a lot about the person. 

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