Hello this is Jake winters for eye on the triangle this is snowverated and today I will be taking a look at the film Pans Labyrinth.

Written by Guillermo Del Toro and released in 2006 this film portrays fairy tales and the innocence of a belief in them that is unlike any other I have seen. There are movies that exaggerate the childish aspects of fairy tales, like shrek, and television shows that emphasize the drama in them, but Pans Labyrinth chooses to emphasize the brutality and vulgarness of them. Some of the monsters in fairy tales if represented as they are described would be repulsive. Warts, bugs the size of your fist, and eyes that are in your hands. Pans labyrinth does not shy away from gore either. There are a lot of deaths in old fairy tales and the film shows them in full detail. This along with the setting of the end of World war 2 creates a film that I would call a tragic fairy tale.

This movie is widely known and won 3 Oscars, which sets it apart from the films I try to highlight in this review. I generally attempt to find movies unknown to the majority of people that I think are great but this is an exception. This movie turned ten on May 27th of this year and it has aged very well. Even with the use of CGI it does not look to me like a film from ten years ago. This is one of the best examples of a film that has so much style that the quality of CGI does not affect it. Many times a bad movie will attempt to liven up the screen with CGI only to make it blatantly obvious that they have no idea how to integrate CGI into their movie this happened a lot during the time period where CGI was newer technology and that makes sense. The CGI of pan’s labyrinth is a good example of how to use CGI. Only use it where you need it. We are getting to the point in the technology where it is very hard to tell CGI from reality one example being Ex Machina. The CGI in that movie is almost indistinguishable from reality even though what you see is far from reality. This use of CGI in my opinion should be avoided because nothing can trump practical effects and make up.

The make up artists that worked on Pans Labyrinth ended up winning an Oscar for their work on the movie and deservedly so. The creatures in the movie are fascinating and creative. Every time the Faun is on screen in the movie I noticed little details in his design I hadn’t seen before. The horns and hooves that represent the devil and his captivating gaze that is only enhanced by the detail in his eyes. The movie truly would not be the same or likely even be as successful without the make up and costume design.

The movie tells two stories, one about war and the other about the imagination of a child. A child’s imagination never stops not even in the face of one of the most terrible wars to ever happen. Guillermo Del Toro realized this and exploited it. The girl is in a situation that most adults would have no preparation for but it is her reality. What can she do? So she escapes her reality with books and fairy tales. The juxtaposition of Fairy Tales with war highlights how different the worlds that men and children live in. Both are bloody because that is a reality for both men and children in war and both have outrageous characters as you could expect from both as well. But one is whimsical and forgiving while the other is cruel and harsh. Honestly I don’t think I have seen a beating in a movie that is more gruesome than as in this. It is the stuff of nightmares. I don’t want to go into too much detail but the two storylines play off each other extremely well right up until the conclusion of the movie. I will admit I was very disappointed with how it ended at first and then was pleasantly surprised when I realized how it was actually going to be ended.

I am going to give this movie a 9.5/10. It honestly is one of the best movies that I have seen. The movie is an orchestra where the actors, directors, and costume designers all have separate and equally important roles. Pan’s Labyrinth doesn’t forget any aspect that makes a movie golden. No holes in the story, no bad costumes, no bad scoring, no bad shots. Of course every shot is not perfect and I don’t even think I could claim to know if it was but the movie is enjoyable and beautiful at the same time as being gruesome and disturbing.

I hope you enjoy Pan’s Labyrinth as much as I did. Thank you for listening to this weeks edition of eye on the triangle and snowverated. Im and Jake Winters enjoy the rest of your evening.