[SIZE="3"]Saw it yesterday. Got to say I was disappointed. Yes, visually a whopper, but it didn't engage me. I never fell into the story -- always aware that I was watching a movie. And the captain...he was too much. Certain plot points showed a heavy-handedness by the writer (i.e., a character doing something for no other reason than the story needs it at that point).

Maybe I'd feel differently if I hadn't seen The Children of Men first. That's going to be a benchmark for a long time.[/SIZE]

Saw on DVD last night, and enjoyed it enormously. My only complaint (though an important one) is that it demonizes the "fascists" who won the Spanish Civil War and glorifies the "republicans" (communists) who lost it. While there was much brutality on both sides (common in civil wars), I can only shudder to think what might have happened to Europe during the Cold War if Stalin had had a communist satellite situated South of France and West of Italy. :eek: Say what you will about Franco, but he stayed neutral during WWII and Spain was a staunch ally throughout the Cold War. A stalinist Spain would have been a disaster!

Saw on DVD last night, and enjoyed it enormously. My only complaint (though an important one) is that it demonizes the "fascists" who won the Spanish Civil War and glorifies the "republicans" (communists) who lost it. While there was much brutality on both sides (common in civil wars), I can only shudder to think what might have happened to Europe during the Cold War if Stalin had had a communist satellite situated South of France and West of Italy. :eek: Say what you will about Franco, but he stayed neutral during WWII and Spain was a staunch ally throughout the Cold War. A stalinist Spain would have been a disaster!

Amen about Spain, brother! But I wonder if such a state would have survived post-WW2? It would have had no land-lines to the USSR and surely the good old USA would have helped =anybody but the Commies= in every way. We beat the Godless Reds in Greece. Why not in Spain? We had Dr. Salazar's friendly Portugal right there.

[SIZE="3"]Saw it yesterday. Got to say I was disappointed. Yes, visually a whopper, but it didn't engage me. I never fell into the story -- always aware that I was watching a movie. And the captain...he was too much. Certain plot points showed a heavy-handedness by the writer (i.e., a character doing something for no other reason than the story needs it at that point).

Maybe I'd feel differently if I hadn't seen The Children of Men first. That's going to be a benchmark for a long time.[/SIZE]

Interestingly (or not), I saw Pan's Labyrinth first, and I was disappointed in Children of Men.

I got around to checking it out last night and I found it missing something to push it from the really good into the great category. Don't know what it is, but it didn't quite make it to the top of the mountain. Definitely worth the rent though, great to look at with a couple of great scenes-that eyeball guy was incredibly creepy and the Captain's cheek immediately earns a spot on my all-time painful-to-watch scenes.

In Japan, today was the opening day and I saw Pan's Labyrinth.

Wow! I admit, this is the best movie in this year, so far. I like dark fantasy, and definitely this is dark fantasy.

But I think "Pan's Labyrinth" is not for everyone. Especially for kids. Some scenes were brutal.

Ruthless captain and soldiers, grotesque creatures, young girl.....Guillermo del Toro should make remake of THE KEEP!

And I loved beautiful music by Javier Navarrete. I'll buy soundtrack.