dienanhtenten This movie makes me feel heart-breaking so much!!! I'm in pain right now! Classic!

archiewheeler I'll be honest, I didn't get half of what I thought I might me walking into. This is a film that had rather had me in it's grasp ever since I was 10 years old. But having finally watched it... I'm disappointed. What did I expect? A cleverly devised, well presented storyline unfolding within a labyrinth. What did I get? A film more focussed on the war aspect than the fantasy, with some unimaginative characters, a story that doesn't deliver and the most generic plot I've ever seen.The labyrinth, while very cool, only takes up 1/6th or less of the movie. Most of it is set in a WWII Spain setting, with a huge lack of fantasy elements. Captain Vidal was truly brilliant, but, just like in The Godfather, his extreme concentration of shocking moments means you get used to the way he acts; and it all eventually just becomes a kind of 'let's get this torture scene over with' approach for the viewer.Ofelia is, in a lot of ways, rather boring as a character. She seems to be a quite generic 12 year old girl with all the same personality traits that come with one. Her actions sometimes seem to completely contradict how she acts at other points in the movie, most notably during the pale man scene, at which point the things she does are just to drive the story forward in a plain way. The scene with the frog is boring, uninventive, quite frankly disgusting and doesn't fit in with the dark tone of the rest of the movie.The story is atrocious; the only good bit about it is the way the ending plays out, which is sort of clever; but if you are good at picking apart stories, you might still find it is nearly as generic as the rest of the plot. So why is the plot so bad? Well, if you've ever come across the plot of 3 tasks, fail one, character storms out, gives main character a second chance then everyone lives happily ever after; that's literally the entire plot summarised. This film is not half of what I hoped for and doesn't deserve the rating it has.

PincolinoPallino Oh boy, how I hate this movie! I have heard so many good things about it, then the high rating on Imdb. I guess who thinks this movie is "magical" and "great" also thinks Game of Thrones is the best thing ever. There is not much magic, but there is torture and violence that makes you want to vomit. I was disturbed and disgusted. Let me tell you, I have seen many horror movies with lots of blood and violence, so it takes a lot to make me feel like this. I give it 3 stars, because the cinematography wasn't bad, the lullaby played at the end was beautiful. The whole atmosphere had something special. I can see why people are somehow captivated by this very dark tale. But that doesn't mean that the movie deserves the high praise. I honestly thought the charcters were pretty cliche. The weak woman who marries a general because she needs financial support for her and her daughter. The general was a spanish Hitler. Then the rebels and the housemade who helped them. I didn't think there was something new or intriguing about the war story. They dragged it out too much. The whole story about the princess and the labyrinth had more potential, I was looking forward to that. I give this movie credit for creating the creepiest monster I have ever seen on televison. Unfortunately I cannot give more than 3 stars for this torture porn movie that disguises itself as a thought provoking fantasy tale for adults.

jessicapopplewell The religious undertones were incredibly strong. All of Ophelia's choices were moral choices. She screwed up once, but was given a second chance. At the end, she gave her life for her brother, which arguably is the ultimate good. She got to escape a horrible, war ridden world to go home to her father (God) in his kingdom (Heaven). This movie was one of hope, and the purest explanation I've ever seen of Christianity. That's why there was a heavy theme on innocence, and the simple brutality of life.Maybe the director didn't mean that, but that's how I took it. Don't let this review ruin the movie if you don't like or believe in religion. It's ambiguous, I'm just inclined to think of it like that because of my experiences.It was a great movie, very morbid like life itself, but not without hope. Definitely recommend.