Movie Review - Pan's Labyrinth

I have an interesting story somewhat related to my viewing of this fantastic movie.

A few weeks ago, when Pan's Labyrinth was still in limited release, I bought a ticket to see a screening of it. I ended up not going to the movie because I ended up going on a date (a first date) with a fellow.

Some weeks later, the relationship is dissolved, and what does the newly liberated woman do? Buy another ticket to see a screening of the same movie, the night before the Oscars!

Pan's Labyrinth is the most spectacular modern example of the Fantastic. Feel free to call me deluded, but I'm going to say that the magical stuff in the movie definitely was not the make-believe world of a child living in a crappy situation. Maybe I'm an optimist, or maybe I just want to believe that there's some good in a war-torn world.

Don't take your kids to see this - it definitely deserves its "R" rating. Is the violence necessary? I think so. I think we need the violence and the scariness to balance the goodness in the movie (and the world, as an extension). I'd like to think I'm pretty hardened to cinematic violence, but there was a lot in this movie I had to shield my eyes from. It's that brutal.

The music is wonderful; the lullaby (theme) will have you humming long after you've left the theater.

The scariest thing I've seen on cinema? The Pale Man. Without a doubt.