Yes, that’s right, I admit it. I should be flogged. I don’t know exactly how or why it came about, but I had never seen Pan’s Labyrinth. Much to the chagrin of our directrix Devi Snively and probably even our FX wizard Ian Strandberg, if not others on the cast and crew, I had not seen Pan’s Labyrinth, a movie I have now watched and can say with full authority that it is an awesome flick.
Now, this isn’t a movie for everyone, and even though the main star is a young girl (played brilliantly by Ivana Baquero), it is NOT a movie for young kids. The movie is rated R, and rightfully so. And, I hesitate to even mention it, but it is in Spanish. I know, this may turn off some people who don’t like to “read” their movies, and honestly, it’s probably one of the reasons why I hadn’t seen it yet. I myself love to watch the imagery in the movies, and when you’re busy reading the movie, you don’t tend to see as much. At least, that’s what I had thought, but honestly, this movie was brilliant, so much so, I forgot I was even “reading” the movie. The imagery is spectacular (as is the sound, which, being a sound guy, I must note), the story is compelling, and all of the actors do a spectacular job. I would shudder to see these performances dubbed into English.
And I can’t go without mentioning the great job done by Doug Jones as the titular character Pan (or Fauno in Spanish). Pan is so well realized in his character, you forget that you’re looking at movie magic most of the time. And I’m also honored to say that I’ve worked on a movie with Doug Jones, and I give my apologies to him as well for not having seen this great performance earlier. (For those of you wondering, I did post sound design for a flick called “Carnies“, which had Doug Jones in a starring role) Great job, Doug!
I would also be amiss not to mention the direction by Guillermo del Toro, a real visionary. I had seen other works of his, namely Blade 2 and Hellboy, and while you can see bits of genius in those movies, it comes out fully in this flick. Absolutely spectacular. If anything, it makes me even more anxious to see his vision brought to life with “The Hobbit“. I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I think Peter Jackson did a wonderful job bringing those classic books to life, but now I’m very excited to see what GdT can bring to the table. We should be in for a real treat.
So, once again, yes, I should be flogged for not having seen this movie, and we can thank the Free Preview weekend on AT&T Uverse and our DVR for finally getting me to watch a great movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you go get it now. Really, stop reading this and go rent it or buy it or whatever. Oh, and let my flogging commence.
Let your flogging commence? I don’t know, Bri – sounds to me like somebody’s trying to get out of paying his dominatrix for services rendered – how very Deviant of you – kudos! And, agreed, it is a fabulous film.