Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth was not a movie that I would pick to see but it was an interesting movie. Since I am not a person that enjoys fantasy movies very much it was difficult for me to get into that part of the movie. However, I respected the details that they put into the fantasy part. For example, even though Ofelia was experiencing a different realm, she still had to listen to the elder and there were consequences for things that she did wrong. I believe this helped her in the real world as well. The part with Ofelia not being allowed to eat the food was teasing her and it isn’t right to tease an innocent child. I didn’t think that was fair. As for the Captain, I liked that he was so assertive because it kept his troops in line. However, it made his maid and doctor betray him because they realized that everything that he was doing was wrong or rude.

I enjoyed the fact that the set was very well put together. A lot of times the set can make or break a movie. In this case it was very helpful. For example, you could tell when Ofelia was in the fantasy world compared to the real-world pretty well. The set score was appealing to me most of the time. For example, when Ofelia was running away from the monster after she ate two grapes, the music was extremely intense and kept building up until she was safe. As for the editing and cutting, I thought the movie was just about right. If it would have been any longer then I would have lost interest. The cinematography was done in a pretty good manor. I thought that seeing exactly was Ofelia saw in different scenes would have been more effective.

“Del Toro tilts down from the tub to show her descending the fantasy staircase to the Faun’s lair, once more in a single shot. This technique of the masked cut is vital to the fluid texture of the film: the camera is always tracking behind tree trunks only to emerge unexpectedly in another place, another time. Sound bridges serve the same purpose” (Smith). I agree that the technique is very effective. It is good to feel like you can actual sense what the director is trying to do. Using this technique should be used more often. “The coming-of-age journey by the child heroine is particularly appealing because of the perceived double vulnerability of both age and gender” (Edwards). I appreciate this example because Ofelia has to go through some very tough times and I believe most people don’t realize that children her age have to actually do those types of things. She did a great job handling her brother and being the sister that her mom would have been very proud of.