Mythology and folklore
Hello there! To keep us enchanted, despite the distance, here is a way of getting intellectually connected still :-)
1. 1. Choose your favorite fairy-tale. Look for at
least three versions of the said tale.
A.
Using a flowchart, summarize each version of
your tale.
B.
Fill in the graphic organizers below.
B1. Matrix
Title/Version
|
Protagonist
|
Description
|
Conflict
|
Resolution
|
B2.
Venn Diagram
2. Write a critique on one of the versions of your
chosen tale.
3. Watch the movie Pan's Labyrinth. Write a movie
review.
Note:
1.
Kindly encode your critique paper and movie
review in a short bond paper, 1.5 space, arial, font 12.
2.
Task 1 should be written in a whole sheet of
yellow paper.
3.
Be guided by the APA rules
4.
For task 3, upload your work in the comment
section of this post not later than Monday, April 3 @ 11:59PM and submit a hard
copy not later than Tuesday, April 4, 2017 5:00 PM.
5.
Gratefulness is blessed. Acknowledge all your
sources.
6.
These instructions hold true to all sections on
English 78 (ABEngl4, BSEdEng3A and BSEdEng3B)
7.
Enjoy the movie😊
112 comments:
NAME: SUARIN,DONNA MARIE F. DATE POSTED: APRIl 1, 2017
BSED-Eng3A
MOVIE REVIEW
Title of the Movie: “ Pan’s Labyrinth ”
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Combination of apologue,fable and realism
Setting: Spain (Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939)
This is the story of a beautiful young girl named Ofelia. Set in Spain during World War II. She is a girl who has a passion for fairy tales, which causes her to see one during her trip on the forest. She really loves to read books. She goes to her stepfather's country home, the cruel Captain Vidal, along with her pregnant and illed mother, Carmen. Ofelia’s biological father was a tailor, who died during the war. Ofelia creates an imaginary world of her own to escape the cruel and harsh realities of the world. When she encountered a faun, half-man and half-goat, she was told to complete three tasks in order to obtain immortality according to the legend of a princess. These tasks are; retrieve a key from the stomach of a giant toad that lives under a tree in the forest, retrieve a golden dagger using the key from a Pale Man’s lair and lastly, fetch her newly born baby brother and take him into the center of the labyrinth. According to the Faun, she is the Princess Moanna from the underworld. This movie is full of mysteries and enchantment of fairies, faun's and giant frogs, including eerie scenes against the child-eating creature, Pale Man.
During the last part of the movie, as Ofelia leaves the mortal world, she is transported to a grand hall and sees both of her parents, alive again, sitting on the top tall thrones. She has been called home as “Princess Moanna” at last, to be reunited with the King and Queen. The Faun appears and explains that the last "task" was a test of HONOR and INTEGRITY. Because Ofelia offered her own blood to open the portal instead of her brother's, she proved herself BRAVE and KIND-HEARTED enough to re-enter the underworld. Princess Moanna became the eventual beloved ruler of the realm, and that small traces of her time in the mortal world are still visible.
The core message of the movie is that behaving ethically requires the willingness to accept pain and suffering as the cost of doing good. This pain and suffering - imposed by the thorns/death in the rose fable - is now presented in this maternal imagery as the blood associated with childbirth. The Christian image of the mother is represented as a figure who echoes Jesus in giving life to others by willingly assuming pain and suffering. And in this connection, note how Ofelia first rejects motherhood out of an unwillingness to pay the price, only to reverse her choice at the climax of the movie. And through this reversal, Ofelia becomes an iconic and symbolic mother-figure to her infant brother by paying the price through her own blood sacrifice, she passed the last test with HONOR and INTEGRITY.
In Guillermo del Toro's movie Pan's Labyrinth, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is a lonely eleven year old girl who lives with her pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil). The faun gives Ofelia a magical book that reveals tasks that she must do before the next full moon to prove that she really is the Princess. Through her decisive actions and strong will, Ofelia is able to successfully play the role of the heroine in a fairy tale, despite her obvious human faults.
Disney princesses are designed to be determined, courageous, and strong, but not strong enough that they are able to survive on their own. The chance of a hero suddenly appearing at the right place and time is something almost unheard of in the real world, which might be one of the reasons why no prince showed up for Ofelia. Because Ofelia's reality is our world's history, a world where hope is scarce, no one comes to her aid. Besides being trapped in the "Princess of a fairy-tale" model, Ofelia doesn't show many other similarities to the princesses from Disney. Her mother's sickness bothers Ofelia so much that the faun must give her a way to cure her mother before she feels well enough to continue on her quest. Pan's Labyrinth is a fairy tale; therefore, if Ofelia is the Princess, she must have a Prince. Ofelia's story might stray from that of a princess in a traditional, innocent fairy tale, but she eventually reaches what she believes is a happily-ever-after ending.
-Valery P. Pasucal BSEdEnglish 3-A
PAN'S LABYRINTH
Author: Guillermo Del Toro
It was a fairy tale made for grown and it is all about a story of a long lost princess from the underworld.
During the Spanish civil war and some group of rebel continues to fight, a young girl named Ofelia and her pregnant mother named Carmen come to live with her cruel stepfather, Captain Vidal. In the mill, she discovered a labyrinth where an insect who transforms into a fairy invited her to enter the labyrinth and inside, she met a faun who revealed her destiny of being the long lost princess from the underworld and in order for her to return, she must complete the three tasks. Ofelia loves to read fairy tale and she believes that what she have read does exist. Longing for magical land, she takes the task through the book that guides her.
One of her task is to get the key inside the stomach of a giant frog under the tree in the forest, second is to take the golden dagger from the lair of a pale- man, a child consumer monster whose eyes are in the palm of his hand.
However, aside from magical journey was her escape from his step father who is obviously cared only for the child inside the womb of he mother,Carmen. Captain Vidal was very cruel and he captures the partisans up in the hill and kills them in the harsh way.
The very climax of this story was when Ofelia was given the chance to complete the task and that she has to take her new born brother to the labyrinth where her kindheartedness was being test by the faun. According to the faun, she has to offer the blood of the baby in order for her to come back to her kingdom but she refused to offer her brother's blood. Captain Vidal who chased after her in the labyrinth came and Ofelia have no choice but to give back the baby. Captain Vidal then shoots her with his gun and she ends up offering her own blood instead of his brother's blood.In the end, Captain Vidal was killed by the partisans and the child was taken by Mercedes, one of the partisans who fight for their lives.Ofelia on the other hand have proved that fairy tale exist as she have returned to her kingdom where the king and queen awaits for her.
A movie review by: Jeshiel C. Enadap
Year and section: BSEd English 3A
Donna Lie J. Vergara
BSED-English3A
MWF 03:00-4:00
A Movie Review on Pan’s Labyrinth
Cast: Ivana Baquero as Ofelia
Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal
Maribel Virdu as Mercedes
Ariadna Gil as Carmen
Doug Jones as Faun
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, War
Background
This movie is also known in Spanish as El Laberinto del Fauno (The Labyrinth of the Faun), is a 2006 Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. The movie was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films.
If you see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future.
-Danielle Steel
The Mexican director successfully made this horror and fairy tale movie by the great help of the 11 years old girl named Ofelia. In the movie, Ofelia is known to be a young girl who believes in the existence of fairy world. She is also believed as the reincarnation of Moanna, the princess of the Underground Realm.
The movie starts when the Ofelia and her mother named Carmen, travel to the post of her mother's new husband Captain Vidal, a cruel military man. This time the military are hunting the rebels. The first encounter of Ofelia and an insect is remarkable because it is the beginning of the existence of magic in the movie. She thought that it was a fairy and her expectation did not fail her. The fairy led her to the labyrinth where she met the Faun. They talk and introduced each other. It told her that she was Princess Moanna and she must come back in their world but she must complete 3 dangerous tasks. The first task is to, get the key inside the stomach of the giant toad and she did it successfully. Second task, to get the golden dagger in the Pale Man again, she was successful but along the process was tempted to eat grapes which was forbidden by Faun. Because of this, Faun left her. In her stay in the post, Ofelia discovered that Mercedes and the Doctor help those rebels who stayed in the forest and support them in their needs. She kept this as a secret that she believes she could benefit. After her mother died and gave birth to a son, Ofelia went with Mercedes to leave the post. The last task for her is to bring her brother in the Labyrinth. She is tested her whether she could offer her life for the safety of her brother. She died because of choosing to offer her own blood to open the portal instead of his brother. Ofelia then, successfully entered the underworld and reunited with her parents again. She ruled in the underworld and was called Princess Moanna again.
The movie reminds every person to be well-determined to reach their goals in life. That they may stand firm and be brave enough to face the challenges they are encountering. It also shows how a person’s willingness to offer help despite of the fact that in the end they may suffer. It tells every person to continue living because in the end they know that they will receive their sweet reward.
Anasario, Kiezl Grace H.
ASENGLISH4
TTh 2:30-4:00pm
Pans Labyrinth Movie Review
Pans Labyrinth is a movie directed by Guillermo del Toro released in the year 2006. This movie is a Mexican-Spanish dark fantasy film who talks about the adventures of Ofelia in the labyrinth of the faun and her life itself. The flow of the said movie did not just focus about a fairy tale but also about the post Spanish Civil Wars, it was shown in there the different oppressions happened within the hands of the Spaniard guards. Through this twist, the movie became more interesting and it contained a unique plot though some scenes are quite cliché or has the same scene in the Alice in Wonderland where Alice followed the rabbit, while in this movie Ofelia followed the stick insect who later on became a fairy that led her to the labyrinth. The movie was not just created to entertain but also to describe the cruelty during the post Spanish Civil Wars, how the people during that time oppressed by the people with powers, one of the best epitome of this is Captain Vidal, another issue being shown here is the presence of woman oppression and lastly, the reality of what life is.
The movie showed the cruelty of the Spaniard guards towards the innocent and the rebel in this movie through the portrayal of Captain Vidal, it was shown by how he managed to kill people all that easy without even thinking about forgiving or giving a chance to the said people. First thing that totally describes that is when there is a father and son who was caught and got killed innocently without even searching their things thoroughly. Captain Vidal is really quite cruel and conscience is not part of his vocabulary.
Woman oppression is also an issue showed in this movie, it can be seen through Mercedes and Carmen’s life from the hands of Captain Vidal. Mercedes was considered as oppressed here because of how Captain Vidal underestimated her capabilities. While Carmen, it is obvious here that the Captain don’t love her, he only felt responsible for her since she is carrying his son, the only thing the Captain wants from Carmen.
Above all the issues showed in this movie, the most essential thing that made this movie eye-opening is because of the message conveyed in the overall impact of the story, and that message talks about the reality of life. Through the combination of dark fantasy and the post Spanish Civil War setting the story did accentuated about the phrase saying, “Life is not just about cupcakes and rainbows” or “Life is not a fairy tale.” It was more emphasized when Carmen said to Ofelia, “The world is a cruel place.” Overall, the movie is unique in conveying its hidden meaning since del Toro combined two genres and several issues in one. Viewers may not notice this hidden meanings and messages but still the movie is considered good for it is a magical and unique one.
Movie Review of Pan's Labyrinth
Fantasy and war was perfectly intertwined in the movie with a touch of thrill and horror. The movie started by introducing the protagonist who is a 12-year-old girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero). This bookish child is with her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) who is traveling to an isolated farmhouse in southern Spain where her step-father stayed. Her step-father, Vidal (Sergi López) is an army captain, has set up base to harass leftover anti-Fascist rebels from the Civil War. Captain Vidal ordered that all the foods and medicine must be locked up in order to starve the rebels hiding behind the mountain. While the army and the rebels was busy fighting each other, Ofelia has her own problems of a different sort.
The playful and imaginative mind of Ofelia leads her to a labyrinth. There she meet a horned Faun who tells her that she is an incarnation of a princess in the underworld. And how does a 12-year-old full of fantastic imagination respond to this? Of course she is full of excitement. But it wouldn’t be easy for her to go back into her kingdom, for she needs to accomplish three tasks before full moon to become immortal and magical being once again.
The movie seems telling two stories, one is in reality where war is happening and the other is the mythological world of Ofelia. In the world of Ofelia, there are fascinating creatures and a horrible and terrifying one just like the reality in the movie, where Ofelia don’t just meet evil people just like his father but also good people just like Carmen. At the end of the movie, it depicts the primitive culture of which people sacrifices blood or uses blood as a symbol for something like brotherhood in a blood compact. According to Leviticus 17:11 the Old Testament’s central statement about the significance of blood in the sacrificial system. God, speaking to Moses, declares: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” This sacrificial system is widely practice in different cultures all over the world and it can be proven in their myths and cultures. This is the people’s way in the olden times to ask favors from heaven. And in the case of Ofelia, it is the only way that she could open the portal in the underworld, the blood of an innocent must be spilled down to labyrinth. Supposedly it is her brother’s blood but Ofelia objected and ended up sacrificing her own blood after being shot by her step-father. She pass the last and final task and is able to go back to the underworld with her real family.
This movie is worth to watch because it will not just entertain and stir up your stomach because of the grisly monsters and deaths in the war but it also portrays a world of fantasy where some of us love very much. It’s a combo for those people who loves the genre of war and at the same time a fantasy. Furthermore, the characters in the movie were well portrayed and you will not regret of sitting for almost two hours. It also gives us a moral saying that evil people will never prevail and that will meet its end, and for those who do well and perseveres, there awaits a prize.
Thus, the movie showed how a little girl, Ofelia withstand all the task and challenges in her mythological world and in reality in order to go back and redeem her life as a princess of the underworld.
Rethel Jane A. Monteverde
BSED Eng 3A
Pan’s Labyrinth Movie Review
Fetty Jamis Gilo (BSE English 3A)
Two worlds amalgamated in one movie was indeed a beautiful sight! Fairy tales and scary movies are designed not only to console the viewers but as well as to terrify them. What makes Pan’s Labyrinth a masterpiece is it balances its own magical thinking with the knowledge that not everyone lives happily ever after.
What I loved the most upon seeing the movie was it shows four factors of which even real people could relate although Del Toro (the Director of the movie) already mixed something fictional in the story. I loved its brutality, sorrow and darkness but with something enchantment to shift human interests and made the movie line more interesting. Without these factors, the movie would be as dull as a teacher-dominated classroom.
When you disintegrate the factors linking it to the real scenes in the movie, first we have brutality. Captain Vidal, the wicked stepfather serves both as the real world, real-life villain in the movie showed his brutality towards her pregnant wife Carmen and his stepdaughter Ofelia and as a captain in military aspect, he was not only brutal to the guerillas but as well as to the innocent individuals. It can be seen in the movie his love to punish and torture that was very inhumane towards other people whom he thought were sinful. Throughout the movie, Ofelia and her mom were already in great sorrow upon the treatment of Captain Vidal who just purely wanted the baby inside the belly of Ofelia’s mother and not them. And the setting was already in great chaos. Darkness happened when everything were in doomed and there was no escape anymore but in contrary to the inimical events were the magical occurrences done by the magical intuitions of Ofelia together with her friends Faun and other rare creatures that only Ofelia could see.
A heart-pounding movie written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro wherein in the midst of despondency of war there occurred a child’s never-never land and most of all, the movie has a dark-twisted and a beautiful entwining of fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to capture the eyes and interest of many viewers.
*womb
Dorothy Mae Solia
BSED-Eng3B
Pan's Labyrinth: A Movie Review
"This film scarred me for life." Those are the words I first muttered after watching the movie, Pan's Labyrinth. The movie is a mixture of fairytale, war, and horror. Although the movie was in Spanish, it did not became a hindrance for me to stop watching the film because the plot is exciting and kept my interest at bay, though it had scared me.
The main character, Ofelia has a lot of flaws but it is understandable because she is just a child, but most of the time I just want to scream at her, "don't do that!", but she does anyway so she went in trouble. The movie representation of Pan was far from my expectation, I always thought he was a satyr with a human face but instead in the film, he was a mixture of a goat and a tree. I also came to love the character of Mercedes, she was more of a mother figure than Ofelia's real mother. I love how she refused the final wish of the Captain, it is so cruel and he deserves it.
The scene in where Ofelia was on her second task is the scariest thing I ever saw in a non horror film, since it was only tagged as fantasy and drama film and if I were to describe it I would really call it as a horror film. Also, the image of the Pale Man that almost ate Ofelia is the scariest creature I saw in a film ever. The film is also rich in gory scene which is really unbearable to watch for me because inflicting or gaining body pain is one of my weakness.
This movie taught me that sometimes, humans are scarier than creatures with horrible figures. Also, children are really naive, Ofelia for example, trusted the words of the faun without hesitating if he can be really trusted and just went on doing anything to gain immortality in the underworld.
Maderse, Engelyn L.
BSED-ENGLISH3A
Title of the Movie: Pan’s Labyrinth
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro.The movie deeply moves the viewers because of its storyline that combines the harsh world of fascist post-war with the light, happy and trouble-free world of magic and fantasy. It gives us goose bumps and all of the sudden brings us back to our normal senses. What I loved most is how my heart raises back and forth to its position. Upon seeing blood stuck me in my imagination. I can’t think clearly because blood for me is always a horrifying thing.
The story begins in introducing Ofelia, the main protagonist of the story, an eleven years old young girl who lived with her mother. She has a wide imagination and so fond of reading books and fairy tales. She is the kind of girl who eagerly believes about fairies, princesses, and magic lands, and thinks that what she reads is real. Together with her ill and pregnant mother, they traveled along the old mill to live with his stepfather Captain Vidal, a wicked and merciless man of the Spanish army. .Around the mill, Ofelia finds a missing eye and puts it back into its socket. She encounters a strange insect that appears suddenly and believes that it is a fairy and upon arriving she meets a faun that tells her that she is a princess from the underworld. He promises that she can gain immortality if she would have to complete the three tasks. Her first task is to retrieve a key from a giant toad that is sucking the life out of an ancient fig tree. Going back to her real world, where his step father brutally murders two suspected Republicans. In order to escape from the harsh world, she’s into, Ofelia finds it the best way to live into her magical world. The movie introduces the world of fantasy where people can escape from what real world offers. The second task is the retrieval of a dagger from the Pale Man; however, the faun tells her that she cannot eat anything there. But Ofelia cannot resist the temptation and eats the big juicy grape causing the Pale Man to awake and immediately places his eyeballs in his hands and chases her. It symbolizes that man’s eyes attract to something easily. Thus, we are given the free will to decide in our own. Just like how Eve in Genesis 3: 6, she was attracted to a fruit that God forbid them to eat. It is a representation of a man who swallows his consequences for not obeying instructions. The third task is the ultimate sacrifice, wherein the Faun asks her to bring her brother to the Labyrinth at night during the full moon. The faun asks Ofelia to offer the baby but the captain shoots her. Ofelia’s own blood falls in the Labyrinth, accomplishing her final task that required self-sacrifice. The faun becomes a sort of guide to Ofelia, helping her through the actual challenges in a labyrinth she must go through.This will help us realize that in life there is always somebody who will help and guide us in every catastrophe's we will encounter. Everything has its end.
The movie represents the real world versus fantasy, good versus evil, innocence versus adulthood and feminine versus masculine. Thus, we are responsible for creating our own world. Whether it is fantasy or not the choice is ours. It is the matter of how we live in this ironic world. Pan’s Labyrinth has a lot of symbolic signs. From the beginning up to end, the sensation is consistently swallowing the viewers. It makes them to questioned if a magical world does really exist. If believing can make things possible, then why suffer if you can escape from hardship. Why faint if happily-ever-after is your hope to hold on. To live is to have courage and perseverance amidst of all the blocking stones along the way. Be vigilant as the last line of the movie says, invisible things can only be found by those who have the eyes to see.
Dela Cerna, Queenie B. ASENGL4
“MOVIE REVIEW OF PAN’S LABYRINTH”
“Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.” -Alexandre Dumas
The movie which was directed and written by Guillermo del Toro tells us that we can still escape from harsh reality through fairy tales. That in order to find happiness, we must fight no matter how hard it is.
The stars of the movie Pan’s Labyrinth Ivana Baquero as Ofelia, Sergi López as Vidal and Ariadna Gil as Carmen portray this very well. The movie takes place in an army camp where Captain Vidal lives. It is surrounded by forests where war takes place between Captain Vidal together with his comrades and the resistance. The genre of the movie is drama, fantasy and war.
In the film making, the editing was good because the film involves fantasy and the movie had a great editing to make the fairies looked like a real one, even the evil monster that was involved in her second task. Also the plant that was given by Faun to Ofelia to put it under her mothers’ bed, by the time when she put milk on it and it started moving, it looks real. In addition, the acting from the entire cast seemed very real. You can really see that they are professionals and it looks like its happening in real life. Moreover, I have found out that in reality, the movie was shot in a location that had experienced the worst drought in years but when you look at it, it looks real so it adds to my amusement.
The whole movie is good; it is great, from acting to direction, the editing, costumes, set designs and its photography. I enjoyed watching the movie. It has good graphics and the story is interesting. The idea of having another story inside a story is really good and how the director connected the two.
Keshia Pearl H. Velez
BSE-English3B
MWF 4:00-5:00
Back to the days when I was a child, I always think of princesses, unicorns, fairies adorable enchanted creatures and beautiful kingdoms upon hearing the word “fairytale”. Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast – these fairytales all have antagonists but they didn’t look so bad.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” on the other hand, didn’t meet my expectations, it surpassed. Although ghastly, I have to commend on the creatures in this movie, they didn’t look like just film conceptions! After watching it, they definitely hunted me in my nightmare, especially the Pale Man whose eyes is in the palm of his hands! (Goodness, I hate his features). And despite a captivating lead performance by Ivana Baquero and a great soundtrack which really gives goosebumps to viewers, "Ofelia" never gets out of the shadow of her flaws. She surely is infuriating, she keeps on doing things that will make everything even more complicated. Pan on the other hand, I did not expect him to be a hybrid of a goat and a tree, honestly, I thought that this movie was somewhat associated with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and the Neverland. Anyway, several scenes from the film are undoubtedly gruesome and it took me a lot of courage to continue watching it until the end.
I never really liked heart-stopping and bloody movies, but Pan’s Labyrinth became a total exception. This movie really gave me another way to view fairytales. Pan’s Labyrinth written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro is not just a good film, but it is one of the greatest fantasy films ever made in history.
Jireh Grace V. Noquial
ASENGLISH 4
Pan Labyrinth Movie Review
The story shows lots of archetype to relate in reality since the movie was based on the Spanish civil war at the same time it deals with the dark fantasy, mysterious and strange creature which become the central of the story.
The movie started in the story of Princess Moanna in the underworld. She was a daughter of Hades the God of underworld. She want to experience to see the light so, she elope from the underworld without the knowledge that when they see to light, they will forgot everything and that’s what happen to Princess Moanna, she forgot who she was until she died. However, her father Hades had hope that her daughter will reincarnate and will return to underworld.
It started when Ofellia and her mother went to Falange on where her stepfather named Captain Vidal awaiting there. Her mother suffered a road sick because of her pregnancy on Ofellia’s stepbrother. So, they stop in the middle of forest, in that moment, Ofellia met a fairy which came out from the mouth of a stone sculptures but the fairy disguise into an insect. Her mother did not believe on her daughter because she love reading fairy tales and she taught that those fairies are product of her imaginations. When they reach the place, her father waiting for them which his concerns was the baby inside the belly of her mother. Somehow, she met the fairy again and she followed it into Labyrinth garden and she was met the Faun and the pale man. The pale man told her that she was the reincarnation of Princess Moanna and the sign was the mark on her shoulder. And it’s time to return to the underworld, but she must to fulfill the three missions, and the Faunt gave a book to Ofelia. And the book was her guide to know her missions.
The struggles and adventures of Ofelia give the viewer a lot of lessons. It started with the curiosity of Princess Moanna which brings her to danger. During the adventure of Ofelia, sometimes she commits a mistake. But somehow the Faunt gave her a second chance and that’s the important the most. But because of Ofelia’s loved for her brother, she’s not willing to sacrifice him.
While in the upper world, her stepfather died in the hand of Pedro along with the rebel’s people and Mercedes. But her little brother gave to Mercedes and they promise that the child will never hear the name of his father. After the death of Captain Vidal, they look for Ofelia but it’s too late to save her. But in after-life, Ofelia lives happily ever after together with her family.
Neil M. Tagupa April 3, 2017
Bse-english3A.
Pan’s Labyrinth Movie Review
The movie “Pans Labyrinth” is directed by Guillerno del Toro, who is a product of his imagination, as he began to sketch his ideas and imagination in his notebook since 1993. The said Mexican director aims not to create a children’s film, as what others thought to be, but instead he dwells to create a straight horror lurking film, under the surface of classic fairy tales.
The Pan’s seems to be both good and evil, but what actually offers is not good or evil, but the choice between them, and Del Toro says in a commentary that Ofelia is “a girl who needs to disobey anything excepts her soul”. Thus the movie is all about personal choices. The movie’s tag line-“innocence has a power evil cannot imagine”- points directly to the core gospel message of the story. Evil cannot be overcome by evil , but only by good. Ofelia succumbs to the violence around her, but because she will not be corrupted by it. In the end, like the doctor, she defies her step father with the knowledge he can kill her. But what he does not know is that he cannot take her life.
The film concludes with wondrous ambiguity. Ofelia both reassumes her throne in the fairy realm exactly because of her selflessness and, simultaneously, lies dying in the arms of the bereaved Merceseds.
The film is visually stunning. The creatures do not look like movie creations but like nightmares (especially the pale man, with eyes in the palms of his hands). The baroque organic look of the Pan’s lair unlike any place I have seen in the movies. When the giant frog delivers up a crucial key in its stomach, it does so by getting by its entire body, leaving an empty frog skin behind.
At the end, the story will tell you that it is about fascism and how a certain type of people , just like Ofelia, an follow orders for the sake of orders, while the adults in the film , had struggled with fear as they try to rebel, and so it can be stated that childhood is the natural antithesis of fascism.
Shiela B. Asinero
Section: Asengl 3
Pan's Labyrinth:Movie Review
Man hunting rabbit into the woods with his father , smashed it's nose through an empty bottle by a coldblooded captain accused as rebels after his father shot at closer front. The start of the scene's brutality in Pan's Labyrinth squeezed my blood. Despite of this movie characters Ofelia as a kid protagonist,brutality is not absent in the movie which stirs a darker ambiance of the movie in a powerful and magical way but made it beautiful in that way.That kid made this movie to me ever unique and stress lessening though despite her journey's difficulties.It's impact on behalf of my soul is hope and a never giving-up spirit on her age.A movie to beam that even little light to the unfamiliar roads and darkness.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
El laberinto del fauno (original title)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López
Rating: R
Running Time 1h 58m
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, War
In the year 1944, during the Spanish fascist movement, a young girl named Ofelia who loves to read book especially fairytales together with her pregnant mother traveled to reach the barracks of Captain Vilda, her brutal and sadistic step-father to start a new life without them knowing that this new life will really lead them to a world where fantasy and reality meets.
The children of today’s generation seldom appreciate the stories in the fairytale books for they indulge in the benefits that technology is giving them but it will also be good to explore the things in the world of imagination just like what Ofelia did to add more colors to their sprouting life in a good and healthy way.
It said that Ofelia is the long-lost princess of the underground realm named Princess Moanna but all of these things could just be a part of her imagination as bookish young lass. In this way she could elude from the brutality of her step-father and the agony of seeing her mother fall ill during her pregnancy with his half-brother. “Fairy tales (and scary movies) are designed to console as well as terrify. What distinguishes “Pan’s Labyrinth,” what makes it art, is that it balances its own magical thinking with the knowledge that not everyone lives happily ever after.” (Scott, 2006) If we are going to view the world in a realistic way, we can see that life is not a fairytale that always have a happy ending. Some are destined to face a great consequence despite of their innocence, some lives abundantly but lacks attention and family guidance and some meet their ending with death.
The Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie in which the young ones could easily extract the morals without bothering the adults to make things clearer. The actors portrayed the character impeccably and the lines were carefully delivered that the audience can really feel the scenes especially when Captain Vidal showed his brutal side on the poor commoners. The costumes helped in portraying the ideal time setting. I love the movie but we can’t deny that there are flaws in it just like how the toad was described to be a monstrous one when in fact it’s just big in size and all that it does is to eat bugs. The description “monstrous” was not justified. The sound effects also need improvement to make the movie more enchanting but in general the movie is good and worth watching.
This movie teaches us that the things what we wanted to believe do not always appear as the most appropriate choice/event that we need to choose in the real world. All things should be in touched with the reality despite of what we want and what should be done. We should keep things in perspective while keeping our dignity as a human being. - Hernandez, Ferlyn D. BSE-English3A
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish: El laberinto del fauno or 'The Labyrinth of the Faun') is a 2006 Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The story takes place in Spain in May–June 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, during the early Francoist period. Starring Spanish actresses and actors, mainly 2015 Eretria in the television series The Shannara Chronicles, Ivana Baquero as Ofelia together with the Cesar Best Actor Awardee Sergi López as Captain Vidal, Maribel Verdú as Mercedes who then the very first Spanish actress who won the Ariel Award for this movie, Ariadna Gil as Carmen, known for his work under prosthetic makeup Doug Jones as the Faun and the late Spanish Basque actor Álex Angulo as Doctor Ferreiro. The film was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films.
The narrative of the film intertwines this real world with a mythical world centered on an overgrown abandoned labyrinth and a mysterious faun creature, with whom the main character, Ofelia, interacts. Ofelia's stepfather, the Falangist Captain Vidal, hunts the Spanish Maquis who fight against the Francoist regime in the region, while Ofelia's pregnant mother Carmen grows increasingly ill. Ofelia meets several strange and magical creatures who become central to her story, leading her through the trials of the old labyrinth garden.
The cinematography of the movie really strikes and will hook the eyes of the viewer. The colors and how it was well complemented gives a perfect ambiance to every scene. Scenes in the labyrinth looks really enchanting so with the classical view of the Camp and the woods, specifically those of the scene in where Ofelia has to go with the task given by the Faun. Her journey was given emphasis by how the colors and how the camera focuses the scene that gives perfect motion.
How the direction and how the acting was done gives the viewer the feeling of being into the scene. The actors and the actresses gives justice to its scene and its specified characterization. Indeed the director select his actors well fitted and suited to what kind of the story he wants to show and give to the viewers. Everyone might get hooked of Captain Vidal’s Character in this story most especially on the ending part where you everyone might get confused and ask questions like.. What if? What really is it? And what not.
Overall, this dark twisted and beautiful entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war movie hooked me so much that I thank our instructor in letting us watch this movie. The movie is a kind of my type which is quite classic and enchanting. This is as good as Harry Potter though it’s not in series. The movie watchers would really love to watch not just for kids because it’s a fairytale but this is perfect for grownups too. A movie must watch.
Melessa D. Cahulogan
BSEDEnglish3B
Mark Ellier Puansing
BSEd English 3B
Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review
Pan's Labyrinth is a movie which makes the viewers experience in haste because of violence and brutality of some of the characters. This is a mixture of fantasy and reality rolled into one. The story is all about a young girl who is fond of reading fictitious books such as her favorite fairy tales. The movie is simple yet magnificent because it will surely leave something intriguing and controversial to the viewers. The cast are doing an excellent job role since different characteristics are portrayed by the exception and outstanding actors in the movie.
In summary, the story is about a young girl who is fond of reading fairy tale books. The girl's name is Ofelia. Ofelia is an innocent and imaginative young girl. She loves her mother so much. Ofelia and her mother went to live with her step-father, a brutal and ruthless army captain. Her mother, who was already sick because of pregnancy. The captain regards for his stepdaughter is less than the ideal one. All he wanted is his wife so he can find an heir that would carry his name and Ofelia doesn't fit into his plans. The captain treated Ofelia and the mother his new to brutal and barren way of life, but Vidal the father of the baby boy insists that the child is born under his watchful eye.
The movie teaches us a lot about human struggles. I realized,that we humans are shaped by our environment. Indeed, we are the product of our own environment. If the environment we have conveys healthy and productive then we are mold in a better way. On the contrary, such experiences of Ofelia is unproductive to her as a child because at a young age she experience a lot of conflicts and difficulties. Among them, is her mother's condition about pregnancy, her baby brother tyrannical ways of her stepfather and longingness of her lost father. The story teaches us that we should not escape from the problems that we may encounter. though, it is significant too but the differences of what is imagine is very opposite on what is real.
Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish-Mexican, dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films.
Joysie O. Tiin
BSEDENG3B
MW 4:00-5:30
"Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) took shape in the imagination of Guillermo del Toro as long ago as 1993, when he began to sketch ideas and images in the notebooks he always carries. In Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, Maribel Verdú (Mercedes), Sergi López (Captain Vidal), and Doug Jones (The Faun & Pale Man) Ivana Baquero (Ofelia) are all actors of incredible skill that bring different styles of acting and unique skills to the film.
I found this to be a film that was beautifully shot, well acted, engrossing and moving. However, the violence and despair was overwhelming at times. Rather than emphasizing the hope and innocence of a child's imagination. The relentless brutality (and the ending) only seemed to confirm that running away from reality and into your imagination doesn't really help. It was interesting seeing what Ofelia's mind has created in her other world in the face of such oppression, and the portrayal of the outside conflict.
It’s about an imaginative little girl, Ofelia, whose wicked stepfather is a brutal officer in Franco’s army. Fairytales have often been pretty cruel. But this maybe takes it to a new level. But it's a remarkable film, though.
The story ends when Ofelia leaves the mortal world, she is transported to a grand hall and sees both her parents, alive again, sitting atop tall thrones. She has been called home as Princess Moanna at last, to be reunited with the King and Queen. The Faun appears and explains that the last "task" was a test of honor and integrity. Because Ofelia offered her own blood to open the portal instead of her brother's, she proved herself brave and kindhearted enough to re-enter the underground realm. The narrator explains that Princess Moanna became the eventual beloved ruler of the realm, and that small traces of her time in the mortal world are still visible, but only to those who know where to look. Pan’s labyrinth adheres the classic paradigm of the three-act structure of the film doesn’t even begin to touch the interesting film and morals, such as rebellion, control, imagination, individually, and free choice, these element along with the structure that made the movie such an interesting film.
Reference:
Navarrrete, J. (2006) Pan’s labyrinth. Filmstrack Pub. The Small Print.
Roshan. (2011). El Laberinto Del Fauno aka Pan’s Labyrinth.
Movie Review
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
Shiela Mae M. Gregorio
BSEd-English3A
The movie “Pan’s Labyrinth” in 2006 is one of the greatest fantasy film that was created through the imagination of Guillermo del Toro. A Mexican director responded for he was captured by its horror surface as a fairytale. A combination of fairytales and horror was a very unique and amazing master piece that totally could capture the hearts of the viewers. It was a mixed fiction that can rarely be seen from the other movie which makes it more interesting.
After seeing the movie, I can say that fairy tales are not just for kids but for everyone. It not just a waste of time and it was not just a mere magic and enchantments with a happy ending but it shows the balance thinking that not everything in life could live happily ever after. This is what I love from this movie because it considers the things that other people could also relate. I love how it say that fairytales have something to say to grownups.
I love how it was created with a heartfelt and deep meaning in it. By the opposing idea of the good and evil in the world of reality with dramas that fantasy also takes its place in which Del Toro trying to tell us that stories especially the dark stories can also give people the perspective on the troubling realities that life is a mixed of good and evil, happiness and sadness and scary and magical. What I love most about it is the emphasis that sometimes, grownups need fairytales as badly as children do.
As my first viewing of the movie, it is a bit challenging for me to comprehend it because in one hand it provides fauns and fairies that creates an inhuman sadist. The fauns and fantasies are seen only by the 11-year-old heroine which she said that she was not only dreaming for they are real. The coexistence of the two world is one of the scariest element of the film. We can also see some factors in the movie if we will look at in the real scenarios in it. There, we can observe brutality that the Captain show a human who was a villain. He appears to be brutal in everything and to everything around him that makes him feel love it, to hurt other people for his sake. There is also the darkness in which everything turns out to be doomed until the enchantment takes its action for the contrary of the events.
This movie brings together the two opposing worlds that somehow not compatible yet it shows that the events and dangers in each world are always present in the other. Magical world also experiences evil and not only happiness and as well as reality experiences magical and enchantments.
-SHIELA MAE M. GREGORIO
Princess Abegaile S. Omboy
BSE-English 3B
Movie Review of Pan’s Labyrinth
I recently saw Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro and was very amazed with the movie. It was a fairy tale of a girl who escaped underworld to explore and satisfy her curiosity in the upper world. She lived in a harsh century where guns and bullets were flying but she receives a warm love by her mom. She finds her way back home by cultivating her imaginations in fairy tale.
This movie is filled with exceptional actors and actresses who truly create the film. Ivana Baquero, a smart girl who believes in fairy tales gives an excellent performance in the movie. Sergi Lopez as the strict and brutal role in the movie gives suspense and it suits very well in his facial expressions. Maribel Verdu also good for her hideous role, throughout the movie she gives an exciting performance. The actors and actresses in this movie are definitely wonderful! They satisfy the expectations and standard of a great film!
Creatures in the film were very creative in their appearance. Accompanied by their horrific voices and terrifying lights and shadows gives the film an aesthetically work. Moreover, you can’t leave your seat when you watch the movie because every moment raises intensity and your curiosity will do to wait what will happen next.
One of the best things about this movie is that its story was unpredictable. True to Guillermo Del Toro’s style, at one hour and fifty eight minutes, this film is fairly long. But as the movie runs, it entertains the eyes of the viewers especially in the creepy part. Over all, this is a great movie with a mix of suspense and the bravery of the characters rolled into one. If you are looking for a satisfying fairy tale movie, this is certainly the movie for you.
*his pregnant wife
Balino, Katherine Joy N.
BSEd English3A
Movie Review of Pan’s Labyrinth
As Ofelia and her mother decided to live in the camp of her stepfather who was in the middle of the forest, she discovered a lot of things about her true identity.
As an eleven-year-old girl, Ofelia was attached in reading fairytales, but her mother kept on telling her that she’s old to read those kinds of stuffs. But a fairy who was disguising as a stick insect followed her and the fairy was the one who led Ofelia to the faun. By meeting him, she knew that she was the long lost princess of the underworld realm and that her father was waiting for her. She was given three dangerous tasks that needed to be completed before the full moon. The underworld realm and the world of human had similarities. Ofelia’s stepfather was a cruel and barbaric one that was fighting against rebels. So as the underworld where there are creatures that was bad.
The three tasks were: first, Ofelia must get the key from the toad that lives in a large tree in the forest, second is to get the dagger from the pale man and lastly is to bring her stepbrother to the portal. The three tasks had a lot of symbolisms. In the first task, Ofelia needed to enter to the old tree that had a vaginal shaped entrance and it was said to symbolize fertility. By ruining the beautiful dress, she was able to control her own sexuality. The second one was encountering a pale man. Ofelia’s obedience was being tested in this task where she was forbidden to eat any food in the table. But she failed, resulting for her two fairies to be eaten. This depicted that in every disobedience, there is a consequence. The last one was the sacrificial of her baby brother. But Ofelia refused. This act implied the love of Ofelia to her brother and rejecting the immortal life for the sake of her brother’s life. But in the end, Ofelia return to her kingdom and became immortal as she died in the human world.
The Ofelia’s journey proved that in order to gain something good, you should also be ready in losing or sacrificing something. It needs to resist the evil and follow the good even though it will lead to danger (like Doctor Ferreiro and Mercedes). In gaining immortality, Ofelia sacrificed her own life and chose to be dead in the human world to be reincarnated to the better one—the underworld realm. Her stepfather who was a barbaric man also paid the price of his works. In the end, his camp was burnt and he was killed by the companions of Mercedes.
References
Retrieved from:
https://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
http://popupchinese.com/pans-labyrinth.html
Olores, Julius R.
BSE-English 3B
Movie Review of Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno)
The movie Pan’s Labyrinth a passage to a wider and deeper imagination, starring Ivana Baquero as Ofelia / Princess Moanna, a rush of creativity and imagination will unlocked the inmost life of its viewer. It is a Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film that is written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films. The story happened on Spain in May-June 1994, it shows a brief history during the Spanish Civil War during the early Francoist period. Full of adventure in correlation of the reality or real happenings and fantasies particularly the mythical creatures. The film won numerous international awards, including three Academy Awards and Ariel Award for Best Pictur. The film uses animatronics, and CGI effects that makes the scene more realistic. The movie deserves all of the awards since the performance of the actors are excellent and visual effects were outstanding.
The portrayal of Ivana Baquero is at its best, the atmosphere of actual happenings are there. From its introduction when the background of the story were introduced, the narrator was able to deliver the actual fore happenings of the story. It gives the actual picture and definitions of the exact symbols and settings of the movie. The feeling of creepiness when the labyrinth was shown and the mythical creature Faun was introduced. A history was portrayed when Captain Vidal lead his tropes to the forest to catch the rebels. The actual happenings were introduce to the audience as is it indirectly presenting the actual setting.
If how great are the actors on portraying their character, the workers behind the scenes are also at their best. From the special effects, costume, props, make-up, and setting. During the scene where in Ofelia / Princess Moanna saw the fairy it is really convincing a small winged creature is right in front of her. Same as during the scene when she finally enter the under part of labyrinth when the Faun was introduced. A sincere emotion can be felt during the death of Ofelia’s mother the actors/actresses flawlessly delivered the intense emotion. The happenings in each and every scenes are faultlessly done and the director creatively unlocked the world behind imagination. According to del Toro, this was achieved because of the cooperation of the team. Del Toro even told one of the characters, Mr. Doug Jones (the one who portrayed the Faun and Pale Man). "You must be in this film. No one else can play this part but you." This shows on how they were well cooperative in making this such a master piece.
The one hour and fifty-five minutes of time is totally worth it. It shows the other side of imagination at the same time the history that will surely widens our knowledge of the world during the said time. When watching this movie I highly recommend to guide the watchers specially the children for some scenes are brutally shown it was well computerized scenes that it seems like it was actually done. For viewers who wants to explore the limit of imagination then I suggest to watch this movie.
References:
Craig, S., (2007). "Amazing journey: Fantasy both frightening and beautiful lurks in this
award-winning labyrinth". New Times SLO.
Spelling, I., (2006). "Guillermo del Toro and Ivana Baquero escape from a civil war into
the fairytale land of Pan's Labyrinth". Science Fiction Weekly.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Retrieved from:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/alternateversions
http://www.moviefilmreview.com/mcw
Olores, Julius R.
BSE-English 3B
Movie Review of Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno)
The movie Pan’s Labyrinth a passage to a wider and deeper imagination, starring Ivana Baquero as Ofelia / Princess Moanna, a rush of creativity and imagination will unlocked the inmost life of its viewer. It is a Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film that is written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films. The story happened on Spain in May-June 1994, it shows a brief history during the Spanish Civil War during the early Francoist period. Full of adventure in correlation of the reality or real happenings and fantasies particularly the mythical creatures. The film won numerous international awards, including three Academy Awards and Ariel Award for Best Pictur. The film uses animatronics, and CGI effects that makes the scene more realistic. The movie deserves all of the awards since the performance of the actors are excellent and visual effects were outstanding.
The portrayal of Ivana Baquero is at its best, the atmosphere of actual happenings are there. From its introduction when the background of the story were introduced, the narrator was able to deliver the actual fore happenings of the story. It gives the actual picture and definitions of the exact symbols and settings of the movie. The feeling of creepiness when the labyrinth was shown and the mythical creature Faun was introduced. A history was portrayed when Captain Vidal lead his tropes to the forest to catch the rebels. The actual happenings were introduce to the audience as is it indirectly presenting the actual setting.
If how great are the actors on portraying their character, the workers behind the scenes are also at their best. From the special effects, costume, props, make-up, and setting. During the scene where in Ofelia / Princess Moanna saw the fairy it is really convincing a small winged creature is right in front of her. Same as during the scene when she finally enter the under part of labyrinth when the Faun was introduced. A sincere emotion can be felt during the death of Ofelia’s mother the actors/actresses flawlessly delivered the intense emotion. The happenings in each and every scenes are faultlessly done and the director creatively unlocked the world behind imagination. According to del Toro, this was achieved because of the cooperation of the team. Del Toro even told one of the characters, Mr. Doug Jones (the one who portrayed the Faun and Pale Man). "You must be in this film. No one else can play this part but you." This shows on how they were well cooperative in making this such a master piece.
The one hour and fifty-five minutes of time is totally worth it. It shows the other side of imagination at the same time the history that will surely widens our knowledge of the world during the said time. When watching this movie I highly recommend to guide the watchers specially the children for some scenes are brutally shown it was well computerized scenes that it seems like it was actually done. For viewers who wants to explore the limit of imagination then I suggest to watch this movie.
References:
Craig, S., (2007). "Amazing journey: Fantasy both frightening and beautiful lurks in this
award-winning labyrinth". New Times SLO.
Spelling, I., (2006). "Guillermo del Toro and Ivana Baquero escape from a civil war into
the fairytale land of Pan's Labyrinth". Science Fiction Weekly.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Retrieved from:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/alternateversions
http://www.moviefilmreview.com/mcw
Criza Marie G. Gaite
(BSE English 3B)
Pan's Labyrinth movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro. It was starred by Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil and Alex Angulo. This was distributed by Warner Bros. And released on year 2006.
Pan's Labyrinth movie is likely one of the fairytale I have seen. It implicate the real world with a mythical world centered on a labyrinth in which Ofelia the main character interact with Faun and the fairies. The existence of the two world is what makes the movie interesting in which they could both kill Ofelia. Ofelia's mother Carmen was married into the Captain who hunts the Spanish Marquis, they were sent into the place where his step father was. Her mother was Ill being pregnant, and along the way Ofelia meet several strange and magical creatures who become the center or the focus of the movie.
The movie at first, is somewhat like a horror movie specially when they traveled and stop. She picked a stone in which it is part of something statue. The lightning and the music effect makes your heart beat fast while you are watching the movie, you will be excite what will happen next. Ofelia the main character play her role amazingly. The Faun seems to be both good and evil but the movie actually is not all about the war, being good or bad but it’s all about making choices in which Ofelia do afterwards.
What makes Del Toro's “Pans Labyrinth” interesting is that the dangers that may happen in each world are present in the other. Ofelia was given three tasks and she conquer it all. In the third task Ofelia refuses to harm her brother and offers herself instead. She just proved that she could rule wisely and she really deserve to be a princess, she has a good heart and after all that happen to her she remained as to what she is.
Taylaran, Adeline L.
BSEDEnglish3B
"PAN'S LABYRINTH"
(A Movie Review)
Pan's Labyrinth is a dark fairy tale trapped an even darker world. It is one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is anchored so firmly in the reality of war. On first viewing, it is challenging to comprehend a movie that on the one hand provides fauns and fairies, and on the other hand creates an inhuman sadist in the uniform of Franco's fascists. The fauns and fantasies are seen only by the 11-year-old heroine, but that does not mean she's "only dreaming;" they are as real as the fascist captain who murders on the unsubstantial excuse. The coexistence of these two worlds is one of the scariest elements of the film; they both impose sets of rules that can get an 11-year-old killed.
"Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) took shape in the imagination of Guillermo del Toro as long ago as 1993, when he began to sketch ideas and images in the notebooks he always carries. He responded strongly to the horror hidden under the surface of classic fairy tales and had no interest n making a children's film, but instead a film that looked horror straight in the eye. He also rejected all the cliche ideas for the creatures of movie fantasy and created (with his Oscar-winning cinematographer, art director and makeup people) a faun, a frog and a horrible Pale Man whose skin hangs in folds from his unwholesome body.
The time is 1944 in Spain. Bands of anti-Franco fighters hide in the forest, encouraged by news of the Normandy landings and other setbacks for Franco's friends Hitler and Mussolini. A troop of Franco's soldiers is sent to the remote district to hunt down the rebels, and is led by Capitan Vidal (Sergi Lopez), a sadist under cover as a rigid military man.
He is commandeering a gloomy old mill as his headquarters, he moves in his new wife, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), who is pregnant, and her daughter from her first marriage, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero). The girl hates her stepfather, who indeed values Carmen only for breeding purposes. Soon after arriving, Vidal shoots dead two farmers whose rifles, they claim, are only for hunting rabbits. After they die, Vidal finds rabbits in their pouches. He tells his soldiers that, next time they must search those assholes before wasting his time with them.
Ofelia encounters a strange insect looking like a praying mantis. It goes in and out of frame, the insect, friendly and insistent, seems to her like a fairy, and when she says so, the bug becomes a vibrating little man who leads her into a labyrinth and thus to her first fearsome meeting with the faun (Doug Jones, who specializes in acting inside bizarre costumes). Some viewers have confused the faun with Pan, but there is no Pan in the picture and the international title translates as "Labyrinth of the Faun."
The faun seems to be both good and evil. But what he actually offers is not good or evil, but the choice between them, and Del Toro says in a commentary that Ofelia is "a girl who needs to disobey anything except her own soul." The whole movie, he says, is about choices.The faun fits neatly into Ofelia's worries about her pregnant mother; he gives her a mandrake root to hide under the mother's bed and feed with two drops of blood daily. The mandrake root is said to resemble a penis, but this one, in special effects that are beyond creepy, looks like a half-baby made from wood, leaves and earth. Ofelia discovers that Mercedes is aiding the rebels, but keeps her secret because she doesn't want to be responsible for hurting anyone, a trait that will benefit her. In the film, the creatures do not look like movie creations but like nightmares (especially the Pale Man, with eyes in the palms of his hands). This movie merely focuses on the beliefs of the fairies and other elements living in the nature.
Rhodel C. Sotelo
ASENLISH4
TTH 2:30-4:00
Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review
The movie Pan's Labyrinth was written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro in the year 2006. This Spanish-Mexican movie tell the audience that we can still escape from the harsh reality through fairy tale. But in this movie, I have also seen not just plain fairy tale but it also depicts the experience of the people during that time wherein they felt oppression from the those people with high position and power. The cruelty of the Spanish guard was also shown in the movie as the character of Captain Vidal brutally killed innocent individuals. Women also felt oppressed in the movie with the character of Carmen and Mercedes in the hands of the Captain.
But I have also seen great fairy tale scenes in the movie with the character of Ofelia. I also find it cute when Ofelia followed the stick insect that later became a fairy that led her to Labyrinth.
Overall, Guillermo del Toro was successful in making this movie. The Cast's was also good in portraying their roles. Filming and effects was also outstanding. This movie gives a lot of moral lessons and left a mark to every audience.
Krizzia Jane P. Roxas
BSED-English3A
A MOVIE REVIEW
Movie title: Pan’s Labyrinth
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Foreign/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Setting: Spain 1944
Pan’s Labyrinth is a story of a young girl who attempts to escape the brutal repression of General Francisco Franco's Spain by creating her own dark fantasy world. Set in 1944 Spain, where a groups of rebels were still fighting Franco's totalitarian government. Pan's Labyrinth starts with a prologue about a princess from an underground kingdom “where there are neither lies nor pain.” Though lost to the world above, the soul of said princess will one day return to her rightful throne. Captain Vidal has summoned his wife and step-daughter to stay with him. His wife, Carmen, is close to giving birth to his son, while the girl, Ofelia, would rather keep her nose in her fairy tale books. En route to the post, Ofelia happens across a strange insect that transforms before her eyes and leads her to a secluded labyrinth. There, she meets a faun who tells her that she is the underground kingdom's long-lost princess, Moanna. But in order for her to return to the kingdom and attain immortality, the faun must “make sure her essence has remained intact.” Ofelia must complete the three tasks “before the moon is full”, she was given a blank book as a guide and three fairies were set to help her. These said tasks can be seen both as trials to secure her return to her kingdom, as well as reflections of the harsh realities she experiences in her stepfather’s home. All three tasks are overcome by Ofelia in a symbolic quashing of fascism on a scale she can battle out. She is, in her way a younger version of Mercedes just forming her own ability to snatch out at injustice and fight bravely against the metaphorical Vidal. She is fighting the fascist regime in the fantastical world as she could not fight it in reality. However at the film's end, disobedience pays – even if in a twisted manner. Ofelia is killed by Vidal and she does not live to see the fascist regime overcome by the rebels. That's when Ofelia refuses to shed the blood of the innocent. She gave up her sacred rights for her baby brother then her own innocent blood was spilled. Although she dies, it is only in the real world. She is resurrected in the underworld to remain forever in the paradise she dreams so passionately about. At that moment, del Toro purposely blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Either way, Ofelia will suffer no more. The girl's initial act of disobedience leads to disaster. Her final one, on the other hand, leads to salvation. We are encouraged to think about why she had to be sacrificed. No other outcome would have affected us. Bittersweet films always linger in our minds far longer than happy endings do. Her innocent sacrifice also makes us loathe the sadistic man and the regime he represents who could kill a child. Despite its fairy tale trappings, I find it exceedingly mature and heart-wrenching tale, its violence is powerful, but so are its emotions. Pan's Labyrinth is an adult fairy tale, certainly not suited to children. But for me it is definitely one of the most deeply affecting films I’ve seen in a very long time.
Engelyn Pamat Llorente
BSEd-English3A
Pans Labyrinth Movie Review
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Release Date: January 19, 2007
Country: Spain
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery and War
Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the biggest and successful of all fantasy films. The story take place in 1944 during post-civil war in Spain. It was about an eleven years old girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her journey of fantasies in her stepfather’s place.
Ofelia is a girl who loved reading fairytales. Together with her ill and pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), they moved in to her new father’s headquarters which is Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). At that time, war was currently occurring between the anti- Franco’s fighter and Franco’s soldier and Captain Vidal was the leader.
As the story goes, Ofelia met a fairy who brought her to a labyrinth. There she met a faun who told her that she is Princess Moanna, daughter of a king and queen from the underworld. The faun told her that her father was waiting for her and that she had to undertake three obstacles to obtain immortality. Finding the sacred feminine, the pale man and the ultimate sacrifice.
Ivana Baquero who gives life to the character of Ofelia, was at her best. She is best suited to portray the character as her innocence captured the heart of the audience. The faun on the other hand, makes the audience think that he is bad that he would only bring catastrophe to our main character, but in the end he proves that he is a trusted servant to the king and queen. For Captain Vidal, the villain in the story, he depicts the Pale man and the giant frog in the other world. It makes me think then, that mostly of the villain in the fairytales was a wicked woman, but in the story the real father was dead leaving the wicked step-father.
Throughout the film, we may come to think whether the fantasy world was real or it was just Ofelia’s imagination that was manifested of his stepfather’s cruelty, her mother’s condition and the frightening war between the military and the rebels. This was not clearly answered even at the end. Del Toro leave it as an open ended and it makes us think a lot of conclusions.
Indeed, Pan’s Labyrinth showed two different worlds. Though these worlds are greatly different from each other, still, the thing that could happen in the other world could also be evident in the other. This 1 hour and 58 minutes movie is worth to watch for it does not only bring us to the world of imagination but it also widens our knowledge about history.
Lilian M. Labtan
BSED English3B
Movie Review
Pan’s Labyrinth movie shows about reality and magical world. It is about a princess who died and her father a king waits for her soul to be reincarnate to the other body with a different world. Ofelia is the name of the girl who is said to be the princess. She has a mother that is remarried to a general because her father passed along time. And her mother wanted to have another husband for she couldn’t bare the loneliness. The general was once a kind a person her mother describe but later on in their marriage he shows his true color. Which is Ofelia never wished for him to be her father. The general commanded his wife to go to the camp for he wanted to deliver his son where he is assigned. The camp is not a comfortable place for Ofelia’s mother for she is sick during her pregnancy. The doctor advice the general for it but he never listens not to anyone. Ofelia was a bookish child, she really love reading fairytales and she believed that magic really exist. And the world is a happy place to live in. in the camp there he meet the faun who said that she is the princess of the king. She was given three tasks to finish for her to be with the king and queen again. The first task was successfully done but when the second follow she disappointed the faun and he told Ofelia how disappointed he was. That she could not live with the king again because of what she did. But there comes the last chance, that she must sacrifice her own brother to open the portal, but because of her love towards her bother she did not let it happen and she was then being shot by the general and her own blood flow and the reason why she accomplished the quest. She then now become the protector of justice.
The movie reminds me of the Philippines being colonize by the Japanese but then there is always a time that the freedom will be given through many sacrifices. And about Ofelia who loves fairytale, who believes in magic it shows how a child really fantasies’ the story with happy ending that magic do really exist if you just believe in it. I love the way the director made the movie, about its settings, plot, and character because someof it really represents reality. And how the movie ends, that satisfy the one who watches it.
Movie review of Pan’s Labyrinth
The movie entitled Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fantasy, product of the creative mind of a Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. He is fund of seeing the dark side of every fairytale he come across with. The story is centred upon a young girl named Ofelia who used to live in the city. She used to live there with her tailor father and her mother, but when her father died, her fate begun to change.
The movie is very interesting and the plot is very unique and very unpredictable. Complete from violence, rebellion to the innocence of a young . The movie was shot in Spain and is a great representation of what really happened during the fascist rule. The movie is originally entitled as Labyrinth of the Faun but later changed into Pan for the benefit of English viewers who are more familiar of Pan than Faun. Pan is a specific Greek God, also goat-like, who’s generally depicted as mischievous, harmful, and overly sexual, not a creature you’d be comfortably seeing earn the trust of a little girl. This was subtitled by the director himself. It shows a lot of representation and connections to real life.
With high quality videography, talented characters, creative and imaginative director, the movie became one of the best and portrays the reality of war, violence and rebellion. The adventures of an innocent girl with magical creatures feeds our minds with adventures that will totally blow the minds of the audience and takes them to a new level of fantasies and perception of the real world.
Ella Queen Literatus BSE-Eng 3A
Movie review of Pan’s Labyrinth
The movie entitled Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fantasy, product of the creative mind of a Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. He is fund of seeing the dark side of every fairytale he come across with. The story is centred upon a young girl named Ofelia who used to live in the city. She used to live there with her tailor father and her mother, but when her father died, her fate begun to change.
The movie is very interesting and the plot is very unique and very unpredictable. Complete from violence, rebellion to the innocence of a young . The movie was shot in Spain and is a great representation of what really happened during the fascist rule. The movie is originally entitled as Labyrinth of the Faun but later changed into Pan for the benefit of English viewers who are more familiar of Pan than Faun. Pan is a specific Greek God, also goat-like, who’s generally depicted as mischievous, harmful, and overly sexual, not a creature you’d be comfortably seeing earn the trust of a little girl. This was subtitled by the director himself. It shows a lot of representation and connections to real life.
With high quality videography, talented characters, creative and imaginative director, the movie became one of the best and portrays the reality of war, violence and rebellion. The adventures of an innocent girl with magical creatures feeds our minds with adventures that will totally blow the minds of the audience and takes them to a new level of fantasies and perception of the real world.
Ampinos, Aiza G.
ASENGL4
2:30-4:00pm
Pan’s Labyrinth Movie Review Set at Franco’s mopping up exercise after the Spanish Civil War, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is a wonderful dark fairytale that sets in a metaphor for Spain itself, waver on the edge of nightmare dreamscapes of corruption, violence, and death of the innocents. Pan’s Labyrinth is swift and accessible entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in its effects. The heroine is a kind of child who eagerly reads stories about fairies, princesses and magic lands, longing to believe that what she reads is real. The director obliges her desire by conjuring, just beyond the field of vision of the adults in Ofelia’s life, a grotesque, enchanted netheworld governed by sometimes harsh rules of folk magic. The realm that Ofelia is a long lost princess may exist only in her imagination. Mr. Del Toro is less interested in debunking or explaining away the existence of magic than in surveying the natural history of enchantment. The vivid world of fairies in which Ofelia was brought is a metaphor of her escape from the oppression of a day-to-day existence dominated by her stepfather. On the basis of the story, the combined genre, a paradise in fantasies and a violence in realities made the movie unique. These two contradicting concept was combined and made a wonderful outcome. The film is visually stunning. The creatures do not look like a movie creations but like those in nightmares. The baroque organic look of the faun’s lair is unlike any place we have seen in the movies. Del Toro moves between many scenes with a moving foreground wife- an area of darkness, or a wall or a tree that wipes out the military in the labyrinth, or vice versa. This technique insists that his two worlds are intercut, but live n edges of the frame. He portrays most of the mill interiors in a cold blue-grey slate, but introduces life tones into the faces of characters we favor, and into the fantasy world. It is no coincidence that the bombs of the rebels introduced red and yellow explosions into the monotone world they attack. The director’s film has so much impact and intensity, and such a richness of visual imagination, that he flatter his genres instead of depending on it. What make Pan’s Labyrinth so powerful is that it brings together two kinds of material, obviously not compatible, and insists on playing the true both, right the end. Because there is no compromise there is no escape route, and the dangers in each world are always present in the other world. The story has two endings, two final images that linger in haunting, unresolved tension. A princess restored to her throne, bathed in golden Subterranean light. And here is a grown woman weeping inconsolably in the hard blue twilight of a world beyond the reach of fantasy.
Salem, Irish Joy D.
ASENGL4
2:30-4:00pm
Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the greatest of all fantasy films. It is anchored firmly in the reality of war, drama, mystery, thriller and fantasy. This movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro a Mexican director that responded strongly to the horror lurking under the surface of fairy tales and he has no interest in making children film but a film that looked horror straight in the eyes of the viewer. Unfortunately, this film is definitely not for children, although the fantasy sequences are realised, and are fairy tales in the truest sense. Most of the story exists outside of the dreamland and in the more frightening world of a real life struggle of ideas and ideology. On the first viewing, it is challenging because this movie provides fauns and fairies, and creates an inhuman sadist. Before when I was a child, I love seeing fairy tales, but this movie Pan’s Labyrinth gave me courage to watch a bloody civil war. In the story young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer. She is armed with only imagination. Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets Ofelia on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur and before she can turn back, she finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil. People will watch Pan’s Labyrinth in a way that most won’t watch Land and Freedom. They will discover a world of fairy tales which existed before in Disney. The end of the movie is Narnia-like moralism and the fact that faun is not wild enough. Thus, this movie is eminently forgivable. The best film I’ve seen so far.
Pangan, Sharmaine Anne L. English 78
BSEd-Eng3b MWF 04:00PM-05:30PM
Pan’s Labyrinth
(A Movie Review)
Another must watch fantasy film with a twist of historical post-Civil War happened in Spain, 1944. The movie set an adventure atmosphere with a transition of a back and forth going of places between different worlds of reality and of the fantasy world where the main character, Ofelia is taking risk.
The movie’s characters portray the different roles in an archetypal type of notion. The main character, Ofelia who is the protagonist and the innocent, lover, and explorer; the Faun, who is a magician and sage type of character; Captain Vidal, the cruel and antagonist character in the movie; Mercedes, the sage and caregiver type of character; and Carmen, the loving mother of Ofelia.
All throughout the movie the characters evolve in a structure of “Love + Sacrifice = Freedom”. First is Mercedes, who is a loving sister to her brother; one of the rebel that she even sacrifices her safety in providing the needs of other rebel for their main aim of freedom against the unjust ruling of the cruel, Captain Vidal. Second, is the love of Ofelia for her family and her love for fantasy; fairytales that she sacrificed her mortal life, went to adventures in a belief of freedom from the cruel world she is in. Last, Captain Vidal, amidst his cruelty and unjust way of serving his people; he sacrificed his reputation for the love of his son; he believed that his son must be born in a cleansed place in Spain.
Overall, it is a timeless movie. A film that combines fantasy and reality. A taste of history was also dealt, but the indispensable theme of the movie that cannot be dispute
is the love for the family; be it a mother, a father, a daughter, a sister, or even a cruel leader will sacrifice for his son.
Angelbert F. Joromo BSED-English3A
MWF- 3:00-4:00 p.m
MOVIE REVIEW
Title of the Movie: “Pan’sLabyrinth”
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Fantasy/Drama
Setting: Spain (Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939)
Ofelia, a girl who fancied reading fairy tales go to the country to live with her step father together with her sickly pregnant mother. Ofelia’s curiosity and bravery leads her to find out her true identity with the help of a faun. Ofelia, at the very first place was the one who unveil her true identity, that she was a princess. In the very beginning of the movie on their way to his stepfather’s home, she saw a stone which was a part of a statue and when Ofelia put the stone in its rightful place everything had begun. Ofelia then was followed by an insect but soon reveals itself as a fairy and told Ofelia to go the labyrinth. In the labyrinth she meet a faun and told her that in order for her to open the portal she must do the three task. Ofelia’s bravery and courage to unveil her true identity leads her to succeed in the three task situating her in great danger. She also became a friend of Mercedes whose brother is one of the rebel hiding in the forest. At the end of the movie Ofelia end up sacrificing herself instead of her baby brother for the third and last task includes putting the blood of an innocent in the portal for it to open. But before that his father shoot her that caused her death. Meanwhile, with her blood, the portal opened and she was at their kingdom together with her father.
The movie showed a lot of bravery and courage to pursue all our aspirations in life. That inspite of all the challenges that we may encounter as we go through, we may be brave enough to face all the struggles that may hinder us in reaching our goals in life. Courage that inspite of all the struggles we are still in hope that we must not stop in reaching our goals in life.
Janwillen Gamus
BSED-English3A
Pan’s Labyrinth: The Gloom of War became the Child’s Paradise
Pan’s Labyrinth is a story based on Guillermo del Toro’s imagination way back 1993. He is a Mexican director who is one of the highly renowned directors of all time, producing stories in the field of horror fantasy based from the distinct features of classic fairytales anchored in Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy and War genres. This story, however, is not intended to make a children’s film but rather a horror movie fantasy closely on the first look. It has a faun, a frog and a horrible Pale Man with a skin hangs in folds from an unwholesome body characters which contribute entirely to the story plot.
Ofelia is the kind of child who eagerly reads stories about fairies, princesses and magic lands, longing to believe that what she reads is real. On a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her stepfather, Captain Vidal, who is a military officer. This stepfather clearly values Carmen, her mother, for “breeding purposes only” just so he could have a son and nothing more. She then encountered a weird insect which to her appeared like a fairy. This insect was persistent and friendly which later then became a little man who led her to a labyrinth where she met a faun that would help herself and her ailing mother. With her imagination at hand, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur. Just before Ofelia can turn back, she finds herself trapped at the center of a battle between good and evil as this faun brings to her both. It can be said that meeting this faun fits to Ofelia’s burdens under the same roof of his step father who was nothing but cruel to her.
The story has significant symbols. For instance, the Pale Man symbolizes Captain Vidal’s consuming aspect. This albino creature presides over bountiful feasts and eats only blood. Like the Pale Man, Vidal dines on the blood of the innocents. Moreover, Ofelia serves as her stepfather’s foil not because of her absolute goodness or innocence but rather because she is skeptical, imaginatively stubborn and independent-minded. Her rebellion, however, is as much against her mother’s passivity as it is against Vidal’s brutality, and she gravitates toward the brave Mercedes as a kind of surrogate mother.
The entire story plot along with its characterization and setting would indeed explain The Gloom of War became the Child’s Paradise for here, Ofelia, despite her suffering during the rise of war, had found a place where she could make her imagination possible as well as beneficial to her and Carmen.
Nonetheless, the story reached its end with unresolved scenes and conflict which leave its audience hanging. It has two endings and two final images that linger in haunting. Given is a princess, smilingly restored to her throne, bathed in golden subterranean light. Another is a grown woman weeping inconsolably in the hard blue twilight of a world beyond the reach of fantasy.
According to A.O Scott, Fairy Tales and scary movies are designed to console as well as terrify. What makes this story an art is that its message would tell everyone that not all ends with a happy ever after. Its darkness, explicit brutality, tragic ending and surprising twists tell us so.
De Paz, Angelie C.
BSEd-English 3A
Pan’s Labyrinth Movie Review
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Release Date: January 19, 2007
Country of Origin: Spain
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery and War
Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in 1944 during the post-Civil War in Spain. A young girl named Ofelia who has a passion for fairytales travels with her pregnant mother Carmen to live in her new stepfather, the cruel Captain Vidal in a rural area. The young Ofelia wants to escape the cruel and harsh realities of the world so she created an imaginary world of her own. She met a faun and told her that she was a princess whose name was Princess Moanna from a kingdom in the underground and the king who waited for her was her father. In order to obtain immortality as the legend says, she needs to complete the three tasks: Finding the Sacred Feminine, The Pale Man and The Ultimate Sacrifice.
The tale rotates around the collocation of the harsh and domineering nature of reality with a sense of magical. Ofelia was unable to cope with the excruciating reality where her innocent was being crumpled. The magical word that Ofelia created seems to exist in her imagination where she experienced the wonder of magic and adventure. The story depicts the conflict of feminine versus masculine, good versus evil and reality versus imagination.
Glaiza Mae P. Calag BSEd English 3A
MWF 3:00-4:00 pm
Movie Review of the movie “Pan’s Labyrinth”
The fusion of fact and fantasy have long been circulated the movie industries, but only a few have mastered the perfect mix of binding historical facts and a mythical tale into a single piece of art. That said, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” is the perfect example.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish- Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro himself. It was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films. The movie presented two co-existing worlds: the reality which portrayed the surge of the Spanish Civil War and the magical world where fairies and mythical creatures exist.
The movie is about a young girl named Ofelia who was drawn into a mythical creature known as faun. Ofelia meets the fairies and other magical creatures that she read in her fairytales. The young lass was willing to explore what is beyond reality and to escape the reality that she thought is not for her. Yet, Ofelia’s journey is never an easy one as she tries to struggle the obstacles in the first world bounded by her mother’s sickness and her step-father’s strictness and in her second world where she is asked to accomplish three tasks that will prove and reveal her fate.
Along the movie, one can see the excellent portrayal of the characters in their roles. Sergi Lopez was one of the actors who had a notable acting skills. He played Captain Vidal who is the cruel and merciless Falange officer. The first glance to Sergi Lopez’ stance, as he stands regally and the way his brows crease when he stares, gave him an authoritative aura. There were scenes in the movie where Captain Vidal was seen shaving in front of a mirror, so as the camera focuses on his jaws, it gave him a more stern and brutal impression. Furthermore, the characters portrayal was also accentuated by the costumes used. The beautiful dress that Ofelia neatly wore which was given by her mother also strike a significance. After her first task, she went out from the tree, dirty and stinky that signifies the lost innocence after her allegiance to the task.
The use of different elements also added to the aesthetic appeal of the movie. The mixture of the colors green, grey and black was blended without a glitch as seen in the labyrinth. It gave a realistic picture of a labyrinth that it seemed to emerge form a very deep pit. Thus, it created a horrifying effect that no one would dare to explore it, except Ofelia.
The movie also exhibited amazing visual effects particularly on the scene where the faun appears and disappears. The scene was creatively depicted and it left a frightening effect to the audience that one will doubt whether the faun is to be trusted or not.
The playing of the music and sounds were played just in every right scenes. One of the scenes where the sound was utterly affective was when Ofelia arrived in the hall where the lifeless creature was sitting. When the camera focused on the pictures where babies were eaten alive by the creature, the sound of children crying played and it would make you feel as if you were there when they were eaten alive.
Throughout the movie, the focus shifts from Ofelia’s mythical journey to the reality where the war of the rebels and the Spaniards happened.
Hence, the movie is not only appropriate to children, more importantly, grown-ups can also relate to it because it portrays historical influences that can give a person a new perspective on the Spanish Civil War that had happened.
Overall, the movie perfectly presented the two worlds which maintained the movie’s identity. By the end of the story, two contrasting resolution was seen: a woman crying under the dark shadows of the moon and a child happily smiling amidst the bright rays casted by the light.
References:
Retrieved from:
Glaiza Mae P. Calag BSE English 3A
References:
Retrieved from:
https://www.guardian.com/film/2006/nov/24/sciencefictionandfantasy.worldcinema
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan’s_Labyrinth
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/movies/29laby.html
www.rogerbert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
m.wikihow.com/Write-a-Movie-Review
Pandita, Aliah L.
BSE-English 3A
Movie Review on the Film Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Main Casts: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi Lopez and Maribel Verdu
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Fantasy, War and Drama
Synopsis:
Young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her ill mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) arrive at the post of her mother’s new husband (Sergi Lopez), an evil army officer who is trying to end an uprising. While exploring an ancient maze, Ofelia encounters a faun who told her that she is a lost princess and must complete three dangerous tasks in order to prove her worth and return to the kingdom.
Review:
Pan’s Labyrinth is a film about the quest of a young girl who is unable to cope with the harshness of the physical world. Although one of the genre of the film is fantasy and the protagonist is a young girl, it is not really appropriate for children. The film entirely shows how the dehumanization and repression in the mortal world had corrupted Ofelia’s innocence. Moreover, brutality and war is also rampant in the movie which is not really good for children without supervision.
Ivana Baquero portrayed well the role of Ofelia as an innocent child living in her own magical world. She is just the perfect representation of an innocent girl trying to survive in this harsh world.
The character of Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal brought out the threatening atmosphere around Ofelia. He is the great antagonist who stained the pure perception of Ofelia to the world.
After the death of Ofelia’s mother, Mercedes portrayed by Maribel Verdu became her solace and protector as well. She also found refuge in the faun and was inspired to return to her kingdom below.
In the end, although the main character in the person of Ofelia died, she resurrected and had successfully returned to her kingdom and to her real parents, the king and queen. It only proves that she have undergone the tasks given to her.
References
Retrieved from: www.rogerrebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Retrieved from: www.collider.com/the-films-of-guillermo-del-toro-pans-labyrinth/
Retrieved from: www.wikihow.com/sample/movie-review
Nathaniel Dave S. Campeciño
BSED – English 3A
Movie: Pan’s Labyrinth
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
A movie about fantasy mixed drama: A distinctive touch, Pan’s Labyrinth circles around a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero ) regarded as the long lost princess of the underworld, only known to them as Princess Moanna. The setting of the story takes place during the Spanish Civil War, 1944 by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and assigned Captain Vidal (Sergi López) at an old mill to continue fighting against the guerrilla rebels. The movie intends to create a theatrical effect by portraying an atmosphere of strangeness by adding a deep secluded labyrinth and the presence of magical creatures, such as Faun (Pablo Adán) a half man, half goat and human- like fairies. The costumes and designs adds up to the overall concept of the movie making it realistic.
At some of the parts of the movie----- there were three tasks presented to Ofelia in order to prove herself that she worth of coming back to the kingdom and sit on the throne as a princess. Along with these tasks arose jeopardy towards young Ofelia and task, which are impossible to do even for the grownups. The additional characterization of the Giant Frog and Pale Man, which made the climax of the film interesting. It created an intense feeling of fear, shock or disgust towards the audiences.
The movie ended in as bittersweet memory: both painful and pleasant. In the end, Ofelia died at the hands of her stepfather; however, a new life awaits her as the princess of the underworld. She did not only finished those tasks but she also showed a great feeling of sympathy and concern for others, specifically towards her little brother.
I highly recommend this movie to both children and adults who loves to engage in activities involving magic and adventure, especially in a setting other than the real world. Although some children might cover their eyes while watching scary scenes, it is still worth watching due to the splendid designs that will captivate their senses and will dare them not to look away.
Eithel O. Galindo
BSE Engish 3B
MF 4:00-5:30 PM
A Movie Review of Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is one of the amazing movies I have seen, which belongs in the genre of fantasy. The beginning part of the movie is quite boring but it became interesting along the way. Second viewing of the movie is highly recommended so that the message of it would be highly appreciated and understood. The one hour and fifty eight minute fantasy movie is combined with a real event like war. The combination of the two (fantasy and real life war) is confusing at first. However, the two different things resulted to a common effect which is death.
A young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) meets a peculiar insect similar to a praying mantis on their way to her stepfather's (Sergi Lopez) headquarters. Her mother (Ariadna Gil) is pregnant and his stepfather wants them to move in where his troop is assigned to fight against the rebels. The insect follows Ofelia and because she is fond of fairy tales, she believes that it is a fairy where it leads her to a dark and creepy labyrinth. It is where she meets a faun (Doug Jones) who claims to be her servant because according to him, Ofelia is a princess. It is amazing because only Ofelia can see the faun and fairies. The faun gives her three task to complete before the full moon which leads her and she encounters many things and creatures.
The movie contains harsh scenes like when Captain Vidal immediately kill those persons whom he think could be a hindrance to his mission. He is a selfish man who only cares about his unborn son. He kills people like they were animals. It is scary because there are many horrible creatures which Ofelia encounters like the faun, big frog, and the creature with its eyes on its palm. It also contain many gross scenes like when Dr. Ferreiro cut his patient's leg with a saw and Ofelia's diferent adventures.
The actors in the movie are all great. They acted well and it is obvious on their facial expressions that they are committed and they love their job as actors. It follows an unpredictable story line which excites the audience. The movie is visually incredible. The lighting angles are good. The movie is very well directed by Guillermo Del Toro.
Pan's Labyrinth is a good movie which depicts the differences of the real world and fairy tales. As what Ofelia's mother said that fairy tales are nonsense. Life is not a fairy tale with princesses and princes or with fairies and faun. The movie wakes up those who think that we all live happily ever after. I like the movie because of the messages and things it contains, which we need to learn to awaken our mind and heart.
Reference:
Spirit of Baraka:How to write a movie review. Retrieved from www.spiritofbaraka.com/how-write-a-movie-review
Lovelyn A. Canedo
BSED English 3A
Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth was a remarkable movie written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro who has an outstanding storyline of which he combined reality and fantasy that were parallel to each other
The movie started with a dying girl with bloodstain onher face and hands that left an open-ended question to the viewers of how the story goes on and ended with the same introduction and undoubtedly tragedy. The movie consists pure fantasy and its harsh reality of which Ofelia met Faun ad other weird creatures that no one could see other than her and on the other hand, the chaos of the war where Capital Vidal as the leader and his troop sent in a remote area to hunt down the rebels. Ofelia’s bizarre intuitions, her mother’s gestation, the doctor and Mercedes treachery and Captain Vidal inhumane characteristics clashed inside the movie that created an extraordinary film as a whole.
A must see movie even it is preserved for a long period of time! You can watch it over and over again and discover new possible things upon seeing every angle of the said movie.
Submitted by: Carlo P. Sadura
BSEd – English 3B
A Movie Review of “Pan’s Labyrinth”
Pan's Labyrinth or ‘Labyrinth of the Faun' is a Fantasy, Drama, and War movie, a 2006 Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films. Carmen (Ariadna Gil) as Ofelia's mother and wife of Capitan Viral (Sergi Lopez), a sadist under cover as a rigid military man. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), Carmen's daughter, a princess from underworld realm. Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), chief servant of Capitan Vidal, and Faun (Doug Jones).
The movie is about a young lady, entranced with tall tales, is sent alongside her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a savage skipper of the Spanish armed force. Amid the night, she meets a pixie who takes her to an old faun in the focal point of the maze. He discloses to her she's a princess, however should demonstrate her sovereignty by surviving three horrifying assignments. In the event that she comes up short, she will never turn out to be the genuine princess and will never observe her genuine father, the ruler, again.
Doug Jones or the Faun portrayed his role greatly with the costume in which he specializes in acting inside bizarre costume. He also played the role of the Pale Man that surprised me most and made me utter awe. Capitan Viral (Sergi Lopez) played his role very well that it caused the viewers to really want to kill him because of his emotions and actions that can be really felt by the viewers. Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) is a kind of character that expands the suspense of the movie. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) played her role well with all her emotions and actions that cause the viewers a prickling sensation.
For me the movie was great, the pictures are instinctive, strange, baffling, terrifying. The dramatization is enthusiastic, significant, terrible, and startling. It's a film of great distaste and wonders, the tone extending from savage outrage to awesome kindness.
Everything in the movie was satisfactory for me. The angle of the camera and how the camera was focused on the face of the character was great especially when it is focusing the characters’ emotions. The shots that really show the viewer’s what's really inside the movie. Costumes are okay since most are just servants and men of Capitan, except for the costume of the Faun that is so awesome that the details are just so perfect that when you look at it as a whole everything contributed to being a perfect image of a Faun.
For me, I find it predictable when the narrator narrates about the princess. This gives an idea to the viewers in predicting about what the following stories would be, that a princess would somehow reincarnate someday and return to her kingdom. Also, I find it a little bit cliché of how Ofelia enters into a labyrinth which is an unrealistic world like in the Alice in the Wonderland. In Alice in the Wonderland movie, a rabbit show itself to Alice and lead her to the portal to the world of unrealistic, whereas in the Pan's Labyrinth Ofelia was led by a stick insect to the Labyrinth. Another is the book that the Faun gave to Ofelia was same as the scroll that the moth gave to Alice. In which these book and scroll shows your future about what you are going to do in order for you to know in advance about what might happen.
The girl learns not only to follow instructions, and that there are heavy prices to pay for failing to abide by them, but also to trust her own instincts about right and wrong. In order to find her true self, she must also find the strength to break the rules imposed by authority.
John Mark D. Morales BSEd English3B
Pan’s Labyrinth movie review
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
The movie was about the girl named Ofelia who loves to read fairy tale and suddenly witnessed one in the forest as they travel along to meet her stepfather. The movie happens during post-civil war in Spain. It all starts when Ofelia together with her sick and pregnant mother went to meet her step father, Captain Vidal. Along their way in the forest, she saw a giant stick insect which turns to a fairy and leads her to an ancient stone labyrinth. There she met a Faun, a half man and half goat creature who said that she was princess Moanna, the daughter of the king of the underworld. He gives her three tasks in order to achieve immortal life and return to her father’s palace.
The first task was to retrieve a key from the stomach of a giant frog. Ofelia was able to achieve the first task but she was worried to her mother’s condition that was getting worst. Suddenly, the Faun appears and gave her a mandrake root, which lessen her mother’s pain. She placed it below the bed of her mother.
The second task was to retrieve a dragger from the lair of the Pale Man a child-eating monster. The Faun warned her not to eat anything from the pale man’s lair and accompanied her three fairies. Unfortunately, only one was remained after eating two grapes that cause to awake the pale man and eat the two fairies. She was able to escape from the Pale Man and return to her room using a magic chalk.
For showing disobedient, the Faun did not give the third task right away to Ofelia. A few moment pass, Captain Vidal noticed the mandrake root that was placed under the bed of his sick wife and throw it on fire. Ofelia tries to stop him but she was not able to do it. After the mandrake root was thrown to fire, her mother feels great pain and died after giving birth to her brother. After what happen, the Faun returns and tell Ofelia to bring her brother to the labyrinth. In order to open the portal to the underworld, it requires a blood of an innocent and faun suggests that her brother’s blood was suitable to open it. She refused to harm her brother and because of her disobedience the Faun did not help her. Meanwhile, Vidal saw Ofelia talking to someone he could not see, he take the child from Ofelia and shoot her that leads her to death. As she lay down to the ground, Ofelia drops her blood to the center of the spiral stone. Then she appears to the throne of her father. The king says she passed the final test which was to spill her own blood rather than her brother’s. The Faun praises her from what she chooses. The queen, her mother, ask her to sit beside her father and then they rule the underworld.
To sum it all, Ofelia used her great imagination in order to escape from the chaotic world where she lives. She was able to establish her own world where she can live in peace and happily. The movie shows how powerful our imagination is. It simply brings us to a place where we want to be. The movie was also related to the Christians belief; it is about how Jesus Christ sacrifices himself just to save humanity from their sins. Ofelia rather spills her blood just to save her brother from being harm. It is just like what Jesus did for the all human.
Alvarida, Marie Grace P.
BSEd-English 3A
MWF 3:00 - 4:00 pm
A Movie Review on "Pan's Labyrinth".
I have seen a lot of fairy-tale movies before that brought wide imagination into my mind. But this time, one is far different from the others. The movie “Pan’s Labyrinth” has a unique combination of a fairy-tale, violence and horror theme. Guillermo Del Toro, the director, brought to us the best out of his wandering thoughts. This film has a lot of twisted and dark happenings yet it is still beautiful linking each theme perfectly. It unfolds the story of the main character “Ofelia” played by Ivana Baquero. She is a young girl who is brave, gentle and thoughtful who loves to read books and stories about fairytales. It influenced her fairytale journey of life that started when they moved to the place of her mother’s new husband, Captain Vidal. In that place, mystery occurred.
Abusing people with gaining an authority and power is one of the issues that were highlighted when Captain Vidal has the highest rank in their place. Even with his rank, he mistreated the people around him and showed no respect and no pity. It was first proved when he brutally killed two innocent civilian, a father and a son, that they suspected as an enemy but is not.
Ofelia’s bravery and integrity caught my attention when she faced the three dangerous tasks given by Pan, the Faun, in order to claim immortality. Yet in the last task, she proves her kindness and gave up her sacred rights by deciding wisely. She spilled her own blood instead of an innocents’ to open the portal. By this, horror and fairytale intertwined. Through that, she succeeded the final and the most important task which led her to return to her father’s kingdom. Her sacrifice and sufferings proved that she is willing to do good despite the painful process.
Del Toro balanced the movie despite the blood shedding, thrilling, dreadfulness, violence, shortcomings and most specially kindness. This film, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is very much creative and exciting for me and is worth watching for.
Wezie Maxian
BSE English 3B
MW 4-5:30
Movie Review: Pan's Labyrinth
A story of a young girl who yearns to believe that fairies and magic exist but is situated in a harsh reality. The movie entitled Pan’s Labyrinth was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and was considered as one of the greatest fantasy films. The concept of the movie was extracted from the very imaginative director when he started sketching ideas in his notebook.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a horror fantasy set in 1994 in Spain, under fascist rule. Guerillas are scattered in the woods, so troop of Franco’s soldiers is sent led by Capitan Vidal ( Sergi Lopez). Due to such event, he moved his new pregnant wife Carmen (Ariadna Gil) with her daughter Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) into the mill. By chance, Ofelia found out that Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) one of the servants, is secretly aiding the guerillas. The underworld princess is long dead and gone and the faun believed that Ofelia is the reincarnated princess, thus gave her three tasks to claim her throne. After surviving in the first and second task, her mother died when the mandrake is burned which helped her mother feel better. Carmen died after giving birth to his son. The last task given to Ofelia is to bring her baby brother into the labyrinth and offer a drop of his blood to open the portal. However, Ofelia refused to harm and sacrifice her brother,and the captain who chased her shot her. While gasping for air, the portal opened bringing her back to the underworld.
The plot is one of the factors in the film’s success. With the very imaginative Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, he was able to produce a movie that was darker where reality and fantasy were linked. One of the things I love about this movie was how the traditional structure or the flow of the story is altered. Most of the storyline of the movies follow the common pattern which is in chronological order, start where something begins and end with the conclusion. However, the movie Pan’s Labyrinth go against the natural course of a story when they unfold a death scene of the protagonist at the beginning of the movie.
Aside from juggled chronology of the story, I was also enthralled with the lighting which helped the filmmaker achieve its desirable atmosphere. Lightning was used as a major tool or technique in the film which also helped set the mood. To emphasize the fantasy-horror genre of the movie as well as its heroes and villains, great manipulation with the lighting was done to elicit a specific response from the viewers.
The movie Pan’s labyrinth put too much attention in its dark and gloomy side which was illustrated in some of the characters especially with the antagonist. However, it may look more like a nightmare but the message it tried to convey was more compelling. That not all good things can be learned in a cheerful and pleasant things or movies but also in a dark gruesome ways giving us the reality of life.
Most of the films I have watched, if not interesting are exaggerated. Pan’s Labyrinth is different from the other movies which made me watch me it over again. It is a combination of fantasy and realism where choices are not said but made, where consequences never remained in the imagination but take place in reality, where life is the combination of the two. If you are curious of the film, try not to be curious forever.
Reference:
Ebert,R. (N.D.) Roger Ebert.com. Retrieved from http //www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
The Movie Spoiler. Pan's Labyrinth. Retrieved from http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/panslabyrinth.html
Submitted by: Gretchen Araquel Torres
BSEd-English 3B
A movie review of Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a 1994 Spanish-Mexican film. It was written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The prominent stars of the film were Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal, Mariber Verdu as Mercedes, Ivana Vaquero as Ofelia, Ariadna Gil as Carmen, and Alex Angulo as Doctor. It was a film combined with Drama, Fantasy, Trill and War set in a dark Spanish forest in a very dark time.
A young girl named Ofelia enters a world full of cruelty when Ofelia and her pregnant mother moves in to the place of her stepfather, a ruthless Captain in Fascist Spain, 1994. While wandering in this place, she discovered a mysterious labyrinth where she meets a pan (faun) and his company, the fairies. The faun told her that she is Princess Moanna, daughter of the King of Underworld. Her father opened portal for the Princess to return but before that she must complete three tasks before the moon is full. However, completing these tasks was not easy. Ofelia faced an intense battle between good and evil. Her tasks can be viewed both as trials to secure her return to her kingdom, as well as reflections of the harsh realities she experiences in the place of her stepfather.
The film provide various elements in different forms, for instance, the manifestation of evil in the story. Captain Vidal's marriage to Ofelia's mother means that her life would not be easy. His relationship with Ofelia is very similar to the "wicked stepmother" of Cinderella and other fairy tales where the life of the protagonist is always at risk in someone's hand who inflict evil intentions.
Pan's Labyrinth is an incredible film for it portrays both reality and fantasy. It provide viewers the perception that not all fairy tales end with a happily ever after. It was a film filled with darkness, sorrow and tragedy of it's ending. The way Ivana Vaquero plays her role in the film made it more fantastic. These elements made the film more interesting since most of the people believed that fairy tales always end with a happily ever after. This film is not really suitable for young children because it shows brutality. It was very bloody and cruel. The Captain Vidal took the life of the people who opposed to his will was very harsh. Most brutal scenes were uncensored. Nonetheless, its fairy-tale fantasy with war added to the level of its startling effect which made the film extraordinary than any other fantasy film.
A Movie Review of the film "Pan's Labyrinth"
One of the most brilliant and amazing film I have seen in my life is the film entitled "Pan's Labyrinth" of Guillermo del Toro. I know it is very hard to believe, but this film is a combination fantasy and the reality of war. In the first few minutes of the film, for me it is very hard or complicated to understand for it displays some delusion part wherein only the main character, Ofelia, can see the fauns and fairies. Though, it does not mean that Ofelia just perceives things beyond her imagination. Everything is real.
However, as time passed by, the movie is already interrupted with some real life situation of the life of the people existing in a war and on how sadistic the people in uniform are, especially under the fascist of Francisco Franco. They are killing innocent people of the society. They imposed rules which these people must follow.
During this time in Spain, a group of soldiers led by Captain Vidal were send to a remote area to fight against the rebels against the dictatorship of Franco. Captain Vidal in the movie is the stepfather of Ofelia and the second husband of Ofelia's mother. Ofelia really hates her stepfather so much for only valuing his mother's worth for breeding purposes. So, when Ofelia and her mother were on their way to the place where her stepfather stays, Ofelia encountered a very rare and strange insect that looks like a praying mantis. It seems to Ofelia that that animal is a fairy for it is very friendly. Also, the insect that she has met is like a man that leads her into a labyrinth and to her first timorous meeting with the faun.
In addition, the faun in the story serves as the choices of every individual most especially to Ofelia. It seems that in the story the faun is both good and evil, but it is not it all about the choice between the two. It is on how people make decisions for their life not knowing its consequences. One best example of it is when Ofelia ate the grapes. During that part of the movie, I felt so angry towards Ofelia. But, though it was a very selfish action with huge consequences still I cannot blame her for doing it. She is a little girl who does not know how to resist temptations.
Overall, the film is graphically entertaining and flabbergasting. It amuses me so much from the very beginning of the film until the end. It is just that after watching it, it feels like there is something lacking in the film. It's incomplete. But, then again it never ceased to treasure and cherish every part of the movie, the "Pan's Labyrinth".
Name: Ruthsan Russelle T. Pilapil
Section: BSEd-English3B
MW 4:00-5:30pm
A Movie Review of Pan’s Labyrinth
“Pan’s Labyrinth” by Guillermo Del Toro is one of the best fantasy film of the past decade. He created something very special, which have a part of war movie and a part of fantasy that everyone should see. This is a movie with a simple and straightforward plot which contains layers and layers of intelligent writing, metaphors and message. It includes the interpretation of fantasy as something of a product of a real world, cross-referencing how the child acts to her real surroundings and the “other world”. The film features a fantastic performance by Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal the brutal Fascist, Doug Jones as the Pan and Ivana Baquero as the young heroine Ofelia.
The film unlocks with a temporary shot of Ofelia, blood from a nosebleed disappearing as the frames are introduced in reverse. Ofelia arrives at a nationalist military base in the woods and introduced to her stepfather, a vicious commanding officer. Captain Vidal dispenses arbitrary justice to anyone he suspects id against him. Ofelia is unwilling to accept this harsh adult world. She retreats into a labyrinth where she meets a strange Pan-like creatures, Fauno, who gives her a set of tasks where she has to face some of her darkest fears, winning a key for her next task.
The story becomes more intense, both outside the labyrinth (where Vidal is busy torturing people) and inside, where Ofelia has to face the Pale-Man – a creature that has plucked out its eyes and can only see by placing them in the stigmata on its hands. Ivana Baquero has been used to play the young Ofelia. But as the ghostly figure between two worlds, she is also there to cast the earthy characters involved in material battles into more visceral contrast.
The movies, like our dreams, folklore and imagination, are rich with symbols and images that can strike a chord in our deepest being. In watching a movie, we combine ideas of the real, the imaginary and the symbolic to find an inner affinity. I’m grateful there are still directors who aren’t tied down to this new epidemic of including plot twist simply because they need a plot twist.
The violence of the film is graphic and the monsters are scary but it is probably one of the most amazing and personal films from a director for a long time. Even it’s in original language (which is Spanish), it is well visualized. But if you are in trouble of visualizing, then better rely on the subtitles. You should better watch it. It’s a must watch movie!
Hanna Mhore C. Quitor BSE ENGLISH 3B MW(4:00-5:30pm)
Pan’s Labyrinth Review
Pan’s Labyrinth is a great fantasy film that is attached in reality of war. At first while you are watching it you could not easily comprehend the story since it first represents fairytale and later on mixed with the war were sadist Captain is there. This movie took place in Guillermo de Toro’s imagination on 1993. According to what I have searched instead of making a fairytale he then realized to create a movie which is looked very scary that everyone couldn’t imagine.
The story begins with a time of 1994 when the main character Ofelia is introduced. A girl who is very bookish that she always relates her read stories in her life. She was with her mother who is pregnant. They would be going to the place where Captain Vidal, a sadist undercover rigid military man is living and he would become his father soon. In that place they would be living there lived bands of anti-Franco fighters who are still fighting for their rights and aim to kill Captain Vidal. Ofelia encounter a strange insect in which look like a praying mantis which she says a fairy in the story that she is reading. These animals became a fairy when Ofelia let that animal saw the picture that the fairy looks like. The fairy then take her to the Labyrinth and meet a faun who says that she is “Princess Moana”. The faun here seems like a good at the same time evil image with horn and a bended knee. The faun then tell Ofelia that she must take a quest in able to live in her kingdom with the king. With that Ofelia then started her first mission by the help of the book that the faun gives to her. Her first mission is to get a key in the stomach of the frog that lives in the old tree by the help of the stone. Ofelia then does her second task after the faun give her another chance for she didn’t make her second quest in the right time. When Ofelia then is near to finish her last quest she then realize that there should be a blood of the innocent to be sacrifice to finish her mission she then let her brother to be free and offered her own blood for her brother.
The film is absolutely amazing for is visual effects. The director's idea in making the movie not look like a movie but a unique nightmare that anyone couldn't imagine. It best describe by the film through the monster were Ofelia saw a monster with a big two palm which she put his two eyes on it to be able to see. And also the giant dirty frog who disposed her body and vomited the key from her stomach. It also shows to this movie the brutal killing of Captain Vidal in which it has no mercy that has no fear at all.
At the end of the story it shows that in every suffering that a people made there is always a great change of giving a better replacement for that thing. In your life you have to choose between the Devil and Good. This is what Ofelia did in making her brother as a sacrifice. She then receive a reward in which she died in the world but reborn in the other place or shall we say kingdom in which she will be living with her father and her mother. This story says that in every circumstances that everyone will encounter we must always put in our minds that we must strive hard to be successful. Even if we loss sometimes we must not loss hope to gain success.
This only shows that the director give a great impact not just in horror movie but also in fairytale. With the help of its characters, settings and how they act. That gives ever contribution to create unity in the story.
Litao, Leah Mae T. BSEDENG3B (MW 4:00- 5:30 PM)
Movie Review of Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a 1944 Spanish-Mexican film. It was written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films. The prominent stars of the film were, Ivana Baquero as Ofelia, Maribel Verdu as Mercedes, Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal, Ariadna Gil as Carmen, Alex Angulo as Doctor and Doug Jones as Pan/Pale Man. It was a film combined with Drama, Fantasy, Foreign, Science Fiction and War.
In a fairy tale, Princess Moanna, whose father is the king of the underworld, visits the human world, where the sunlight blinds her and erases her memory. She becomes mortal and eventually she died. The king remained hopeful that his daughter would return to her kingdom someday, in another place and time. In Spain (1944), a troop of Franco's soldiers was sent to the remote district to hunt the rebels, which led by Captain Vidal, a sadist under cover as a rigid military man. A young girl named Ofelia is taken by her pregnant mother Carmen to live with her Fascist commander stepfather Captain Vidal in a remote town. There she saw a labyrinth where it was guarded by a Pan(Faun), a supernatural creature that is half-man, half goat who tells her that if she performed certain task within three(3) days and which she must completed by the next full moon she will become a queen of a magical land. Meanwhile, Mercedes and Dr. Ferreiro are secretly aiding the group of rebels hiding in the woods. Ofelia found out their secret but she did not tell anyone about it. During the night, the Faun appeared in Ofelia's room. He gave her a mandrake root and asked her to place it under her mother's bed in a bowl of milk and fed with drops of blood to improve her mother's health. The latter part of the story, Ofelia was killed by her stepfather and there she was transported to a grand hall and saw both her parents sitting atop tall thrones in the underworld. The Faun appeared and explained that the last task was a test of honor and integrity. Thus, she proved herself brave and kindhearted enough to re-enter the underground realm.
The film was quite creepy on which Ofelia encountered different kinds of monsters at her young age, which luckily she conquered. Also, there are several torture scenes where you can be carried away by the movie, this is where how Captain Vidal killed his adversary harshly and most especially when he killed the innocent people without any conscience. It was also shown that Ofelia is clearly fated to be sucked into the world of her imagination when she arrived in the middle of nowhere grasps a piece of books filled with fairytales. This film is a rare fantasy that impresses in the reality scenes as much as in its flights of imagination.
Dafilmoto, Kaye B.
ASEnglish-4
TTh 2:30-4
Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review
Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto Del Fauno) is a Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film in 2006. It was written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, a Mexican filmmaker. It was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films. The story took place from May-June 1944 which was after the Spanish Civil War. The film was intertwined with the real world and the mythical world. The movie is about a lost princess who resides in the underworld. The faun believes that Ofelia, the daughter of Carmen, was the reincarnated spirit of the princess of the underworld.
The movie follows the rules and conventions that Vladimir Propp proposed as criteria that must be hit in order to be viewed as a traditional fairytale. An example of this was the rule “three (3)” and it was seen in the movie as the fairies that faun kept in a bag. The fairies helped Ofelia to complete the three tasks that was given to her by faun in order for her to return to underworld as its rightful princess. The movie also showed the three responses to the fascist regime, which was represented by General Vidal, and it was represented by the three major female characters: Carmen, Mercedes, and Ofelia. Carmen represents the weak acceptance, Mercedes represents the full-blown resistance, and Ofelia represents the understated rebellion against General Vidal’s ideologies and everything he stands for.
Vidal is the villain in the movie, his death was satisfying for the audience because for all the evil things that he had done, and his death should be satisfying. Shooting him was not enough, before Mercedes’ brother shot him; Mercedes told General Vidal that his son would not even know his name. Just like in any other fairy tale, the villain vanquishes in a justifiable and satisfying way.
Almost all the characters went through physical transformations during the movie. Just like General Vidal in the movie, he started off as a well-groomed man, and hair slicked in perfection, but as the story ends, General Vidal was physically scarred, drugged, and stumbling. This represents as the start of the new fascist regime. The faun also transforms in the movie, when he was first introduced, he could barely move, but as he kept in being shown in the movie, he becomes younger and more able which juxtaposes his increasingly sinister and distrustful behavior.
The protagonist, Ofelia, wanted to escape her current life and return to the mystical world in which she felt she belonged. The intensity of the movie increases by wondering, what if Ofelia failed with the tasks that had been given to her, and she’ll be stuck living in fear and tyranny of his step-father, General Vidal. The urgency of completing the three tasks in two weeks given by faun to Ofelia boosted the suspense and compelling to watch.
Pan’s Labyrinth has a strong theme that resonates throughout the film. It is the idea of obedience versus disobedience; whether you should blindly follow rules or question them and rebel against it. The backdrop of this story involving the fascist regime offers many opportunities to mine conflict which is essential in creating drama.
References:
Ebert, R. (2007, August 25). Great Movie. Retrieved from
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Pan’s Labyrinth Summary. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
Rovi, J. B. (n.d.). Synopsis. Retrieved from
http://www.fandango.com/panslabyrinth_101635/plotsummary
Pan’s Labyrinth is a French f66ntasy war movie released in the year 2006. Guillermo del Toro’s wild and so out of this world imaginations was put to screen that brought the said movie to life that drag people’s attention over time. Most fairytales that are known to the masses are already toned down to make it suitable for young audiences or in other words, fairytales are now Disney-fied. Del Torro, however, did not strip these so-called unsuitable content and scenes for children; instead, he presented the dark side of the “once-upon-a-times” and “happily-ever-afters” in his movie. It links the world of reality and the mythical world where the 11-year old protagonist, Ofelia, is trying to explore and decipher throughout the film. The walking stick, which she came across with during her travel with her pregnant and sick mother, Carmen, precipitates her fate.
At first, the film was deemed subtle and mild, not until Captain Vidal, stepfather of Ofelia, comes into picture. He is wicked and greatly personifies the step-parent archetype. His character alone screamed brutality and invoked fear, but Ofelia is not afraid of him, instead she is the only one who has the guts to disobey and show no respect to him. It is by far the most common portrayal of stepparents in almost all fairytales, but this time, Vidal is the reversal of the stepmother archetype. Monstrous toad and the horrible Pale Man who eats children are the film’s threatening elements that del Toro did not omit. Nevertheless, it would tell and reveal to us that this world is not all light, it also has darkness lurking somewhere and it is up to you whether to sought or not to sought the absence of light. In the case of Ofelia, to escape the harsh reality she is in, she entertained whatever that is in the mythical world yet she is conscious of the real world. These three characters, Captain Vidal, the toad and Pale Man, are the childhood projection of fears. Ofelia, being a child might be like other children, but she managed and overcome these fears.
In the real world, Captain Vidal is the symbol of corruption of Ofelia’s mother, and in the mystical world, the toad is the counterpart of Captain Vidal. Ofelia’s mother, Carmen, is corrupted in the sense that she was really sick having the baby of Vidal and with this, Ofelia had to stay strong for her mother who was once her shelter, not until, she agreed to marry Vidal. The horrendous and disgusting toad is the parallel of Vidal in the mystical world, since it corrupts the colossal tree that obviously symbolizes Carmen.
As the story progresses, Ofelia, is led by the walking stick which she thought to be a fairy to an abandoned labyrinth, where a faun is residing. The faun appears to be good and bad in the light that she wanted to help Ofelia, and on the other hand, he hands her tasks that are impossible for a child to accomplish. Ofelia was given three tasks for her to prove that she is Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm and for her to be reunited with her parents, the king and the queen. In here, it resonate the idea of having to obey or not. Ofelia obeyed and accomplished the tasks, yet on the process of doing such, she disobeyed rules out of curiosity and frailty of a kid. Her character may or may not be typical for a child for so many reasons. In the end, her disobedience served her right and it proved how selfless and brave she was a child for the reason that she chose to disobey the faun by not sacrificing her baby brother’s blood. Ofelia, a semi-obedient and semi-disobedient child paved her way in fulfilling life’s greatest fantasies and fulfilling the desire of escaping the harshness of reality because truth be told, sometimes, reality is worse than fairytales.
Overall, the choice of setting, actors’ very good portrayal of their roles, and the lifelike animations of the film helped to the extent of realizing what del Toro had in mind. The film mirrors a lot of reality and del Toro’s talent and passion mixed together, made the film, as a whole, very surreal to the audience.
Janlowee C. Mandantez April 3, 2017
BSEd-English 3B English 78/MWF 4:00-5:00 PM
Movie Review on Pan’s Labyrinth
The movie is written and directed by the Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro Gómez. This fifty two years old Mexican filmmaker has this odd fascination with monsters. This in the same reason led him to realize his Academy Award winning film, Pan’s Labyrinth. The Esperanto Films production has garnered prominence from different award-giving bodies around the world since it premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2006. It stars the child actress Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú and the contortionist Doug Jones.
The plot of the movie took place in a mill which is located in the hinterlands of Spain where Ofelia, the little girl who has a great interest in reading fairy tale books met the large stick insect who was later revealed to be a fairy. This fairy led Ofelia to an ancient labyrinth and there she encountered the faun that believed she is the reincarnation of Princess Moanna, daughter of the king of the underworld. He gives the girl three tasks where if she completes these tasks she will acquire immortality and will be reunited with her father in their kingdom. However, her journey was hindered with so many adversaries. She struggles taking care of her sickly pregnant mother being the only one who is always beside her. The cruelty and principles of his stepfather made her hate him who used her mother only for breeding purposes. Her innocence to everything made her vulnerable in failing her task. This is supported when she disobeyed the warnings of the faun to not eat anything she will find in Pale Man’s lair. But, she found help in the persona of Mercedes, the housekeeper of Vidal’s camp.
The film is visually gorgeous. It incorporates superb technology in its cinematography in fact they employed computer-generated imagery in its effects and utilized complex make-up. The creatures were portrayed as they were the ones in our nightmares. The whole set and the costumes of the characters were successful in convincing me that the story occurred in the mid 1900’s. No doubt that they bagged the Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Make-up. Some scenes where Captain Vidal tortures some of the rebels gave me shudders by its extreme bravery in exposing violent content.
The movie offers the viewers a great blend of history, fantasy, suspense and violence. The film is very unique from other fantasy inspired movie because of its ability to fuse war, death and violence in general to the concepts of fairies, kings and queens and princess. Overall, this film of del Toro is a powerful pioneer proof that through ingenuity we can have two different materials combined and produce a masterpiece.
This movie will give you the best of both worlds!
Reference
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Hellicania, Paola M. BSEdEng3B
MF 4:00 – 5:30 pm
Movie Review
"Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) was made through the imaginings of Guillermo del Toro with the scenario of 1993. The prominent stars were - Ivana Baquero as Ofelia, Sergi López as Vidal, Maribel Verdú as Mercedes, Doug Jones as Fauno / Pale Man, Ariadna Gil as Carmen, Álex Angulo as Doctor Ferreiro, Manolo Solo as Garcés, César Vea as Serrano, Roger Casamajor as Pedro. The film took time in 1994, Spanish Civil War. The physical setting took place on mill on the border of Spain, pockets of "Reds" pepper the forests. The fantasy setting took place on Labyrinth which acts as hub, Pale Man's Lair, Fig Tree, and Underground Kingdom. Pan’s Labyrinth has a gothic genre and is a fantasy kind of a film and a little bit of action.
The story revolves around the girl who was curious, and can see mythical creatures that were written in her story book that she had read. She met Faun – the most humble servant of the princess of the underworld realm, the creature told her that she is the princess of the underworld kingdom that is led by the king which is her so-called father. She has to complete three challenges in order for her to return to the world where she rightfully belongs – underworld realm, and she have to do it all before the full moon. Faun was there by her side to guide her in fulfilling her tasks. The first task was to get the key that the frog – who lives in a dying tree, had eaten and to help her get it Faun gave her three stones that she have to put inside the mouth of the frog. She succeeded in her first task. The second task was delayed a little bit because of her mother’s sickness. Faun then gave her a medicine that would cure her mother’s illness, so that she can continue accomplishing the second task. In the second task, she has to get the dagger hidden in the place of a monstrous creature. She was reminded by Faun to not eat nor drink anything from that place; all she needs to do was to unlocked one of the three lockers that contains the dagger. In the end, she disobeyed what Faun had said and almost got her killed. Nonetheless, she had successfully taken the dagger. In the last task, Faun commanded her to bring her little brother at the labyrinth to get the drops of blood to open the portal of the underworld realm.
The director has really a wide imagination combining action and fantasy. It does not just hit the adults’ eye which has horror and action but also fantasy that interests the young ones. The director has a unique way of opening the movie; it is really catchy for it says about the origin or something like a myth. At first, it displayed fantasy then eventually it showed an action setting where in there are soldiers in there camp in the middle of the forest. The director also picked suitable characters and they really portray convincing emotions. Like Capitan Vidal when he is killing the son of a rabbit hunter, and showed no mercy in doing it as if it was not human.
The set design gave a big impact in the film. The soldier’s camp in the middle of the forest is so convincing that would really take you back to 1994. The Labyrinth gave looks as if it were really build there many years ago.
All in all, for me the film is really worth watching. It never bore me, the set are really so true even the fantasy characters. It does not look like movie made 11 years ago, though the setting was in 1994 but quality overall looks like it was made recently this year. I hope the director could have added more about the about the myth.
A story of magic, bravery and courage was entitled Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro that was released on 2006 is indeed has a a breath-taking plot. It is a fantasy-war-drama on the early years of Spanish Franco dictatorship. Everyday, we people face our own battles, some on our career, some on our interpersonal lives and there are many who face conflict within themselves. So with as the characters of the movie, Capt. Vidal faces a real battle against the rebels and those who resist the new regime. Mercedes, who serves the military and at the same time protecting and supporting his brothers that is one of the rebels. Ofelia, a child who really believes in magic and the divinity of this world and is fighting her worth for her to be worth it to be called as Princess Moanna. The movie was great because on some following points: First the story was not just purely magic but it includes real life scenario of the people way back under the dictatorship of the Spanish ruler. People from the past who resist from the government are called Guerrilla. They really lived on mountains because the martians are hunting them. In the movie, Mercedes and the Doctor really exist in those times. They are observing and secretly supporting the guerrillas. Hence, it shows the struggle of people during those times. Second, while the story is getting suspense because of the war that was happening, there is a twist of magic sprinkled in the movie. When Ofelia met the fairies and the faun, I as an audience felt great because that was really one of my dreams when I was a child and it gives me questions such as: What if they really exist and I am just being to insensitive about the world? That is how effective the movie for me. Third, is the cinematography, acting skills, costume and the twist of the movie especially on the later part of the movie. Even though it was released on 2006, the cinematography is well presented and is really accordance to the theme which is on 1994 setting. The acting skills of the actors and actresses gives the audience a will to believe and pay attention to the movie. Captain Vidal’s authoritative aura makes me really wanted to obey in every word he will say because he gives a brutal punishment. He even slapped and killed Ofelia. Ofelia in the movie is a very stubborn child, she really have her own world and decides for herself. Ofelia is just one of the million children in the world who disobeys orders and advice. Their costume also really brought highlights in the movie. It is really in accordance to their roles, to document, Mercedes a servant and any other servant has a costume that really display that they belong to the lowest status. The soldiers of Capt. Vidal also really looked like a real soldier from the 1994 era. The challenges of Ofelia and how she decides on it, made the movie interesting. She really decide according to her heart even though it is wrong to the people surrounds her. In the end, her stubbornness caused her to choose the right path. Overall, the theme of the story made the movie great and that is disobedience does not always imply that you are taking the wrong path, sometimes, we have to take and walk on the path that we have chosen even though you are alone and the only one who is doing it. Following one’s heart made your every decision worth fighting for. A successful movie, indeed!
Talaroc, Jessa E.
BSEDEng-3A
Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review
Pan's labyrinth is a 2006 dark fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro. The story takes place in Spain during 1994.
The movie opens with Ofelia traveling with her mother to the country in an old mill to live with her stepfather, Captain Vidal. Ofelia is a young girl who is fascinated with fairy tales. During the night of their travel, Ofelia meets a fairy-like insect and takes her to a faun in the center of the labyrinth. The faun tells her that she is a princess from a kingdom in the underworld. He also tells her that her father is waiting for her there. To obtain her royalty, she must first accomplish three tasks. Ofelia must first get the key from the stomach of a giant toad that lives under a tree in the forest. Secondly, she must get the key from a Pale Man's lair and for the third task, she must fetch her brother and take him into the center of labyrinth. Ofelia completes the three tasks but the third task makes her sacrifice herself instead of her brother. Ofelia's blood drips into the pool and opens the passage to the underworld. Ofelia wakes up with her real parents seated on two thrones and a third one empty just for her. Finally, she is home.
The movie is just one of my favorites then. It brought the world of fantasy to reality. I was so amazed on how the director managed to shift the plot from fantasy to reality over and over and again. The casts really portrayed the characters at its best.
The most common theme I've seen in the movie is the constant interspersion of the real world and fantasy. Guillermo del Toro juxtaposes scenes of the horrific reality of his character Ofelia's new surroundings with the equally as frightening scenes of fantasy. This leads the audience to question if the fantasy world is real or not.
Cynthia V. Ando BSED-English 3B
MW (4:00-5:30 pm)
Movie Review:
The wonderful magical movie “Pan’s Labyrinth” was directed by Guillermo del Toro with the scenario of 1993. The people who gave life and spice to the story of the movie are Ivana Baquero as “Ofelia”; Sergi López as “Captain Vidal”; Maribel Verdú as “Maercedes”; Doug Jones as “Fauno or Pale Man”; Ariadna Gil as “Carmen”, etc.. The physical setting of the show took place on the border of Spain, pockets of "Reds" pepper the forests. The Labyrinth was also the fantasy setting of the story which acts as the place of Faun and a portal towards the Underground Kingdom. Pan’s Labyrinth genre is fantasy mixed with a little bit of action and suspense.
The film took time in 1994, Spanish Civil War. In the story, the little girl Ofelia together with her mother has been showed who are travelling towards the camp of her new father which is Captain Vidal. On the way to their destination, they stopped because her mother felt uneasiness with her stomach – because she is pregnant. Ofelia being the curious girl jumped out of the car and walked a little until she saw a stone that forms an eye and she saw a statue nearby. Upon noticing that it the other eye was missing she then put the stone that she found into it, and then came out a creature that she thought as a fairy. When they arrived at the camp they were escorted by Captain Vidal together with his men. Later in the evening, the fairy that she saw earlier was in her room and she followed it which flew to the labyrinth. In the labyrinth there was a stairs downwards which she took and there she saw another mythical creature whose name is Faun. It recognizes her as the princess of the Underworld realm who escaped years ago to go to the above world and was lost. Ofelia was at first confused by what it said, but when Faun explained to her what that she was the princess that is bound to return to the kingdom, she believed it. In order to get back to her rightful world she needed to complete three tasks that Faun will tell she and she have to do it before the full moon. The first task was to get the key from a frog who lives inside a dying tree, Faun have given her three stones that she must put in the mouth of the frog to get the key back easily. She successfully did the first task. The second task was delayed because of her mother’s sickness due to her complicated pregnancy. Then, Faun gave her a medicine that would cure her mother. After that, Ofelia continued doing her task which is the next one. She has to get the dagger hidden in one of the three lockers inside the lair of a monstrous eating human creature. Faun reminded her to not eat nor drink any of the food in the place for it will bring to harm. However, upon going in the place she ate the food served in the table and because of it she nearly gets killed. After Faun had found out her doing, he was so disappointed and left her. But as the time where Ofelia gets in trouble with her new father, Faun appeared in front of her and decided to give her another chance to accomplish her tasks.
I was so amazed by the director of the movie. The way he created the movie shows his intelligence, he has a wide and superb imagination. The film was made successfully and leaves a great impact to the viewers who will watch it. It will make the audience scream, thrilled, excited and feel horrible at the same time. It makes the spectators feel the emotions of the character.
As a whole the movie was worth the watch. There is no part of the film that I want to miss for it thrills me and make me want to watch more. It is as if I am totally drawn to the movie that I can’t take my eyes of it. I am really hoping that there will be a part two to this movie.
Sources: Ebert, R. (2007, August 25). Movie Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Canubas, Aljun C.
BSED-Eng 3B
Pan’s Labyrinth
by Guillermo del Toro
(A Movie Review)
The movie is all about the story of a young and beautiful girl named Ofelia. She is a kind of girl who has the love for fairy tales. Her biological father was a tailor who died during the war. She, together with her pregnant and sick mother named Ofelia, transferred to her stepfather’s place, Captain Vidal. She also met Mercedes, a maid who works for his stepfather and a spy for the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War. Here, she had seen the cruelty showed by his stepfather, and discovered the realities of the world she lived with.
She met the faun who told her that she was Princess Moanna, the daughter of the King of the underworld. According to the faun, her real father had opened portals all over the world to allow her return, however in a condition. She must complete the three tasks from the book of crossroads and these were to put the three magic stones in the toad’s mouth to retrieve the golden key from inside of his belly, to get the golden dagger using the key from a pale man’s lair, and to fetch her newly born brother and take him into the labyrinth.
While she kept on doing the tasks, unfortunately, things are not much good in the real world. Captain Vidal continued her cruelty, and her mother had born the baby, but she died. Ofelia died when her father shot her. In the end, she woke up in the underworld and met her real parents. Her father then explained the good heart of hers when she refused to give her baby brother and did not want to spill the blood of an innocent. He said that it was the final and the most important task.
The central message that the fairytale would likely to tell is the willingness to accept sufferings and pains through the challenges in order to get something what the heart desires. Let us remember the sacrifice that Ofelia has shown in the movie. It only justified that anyone who wished for something good will do anything, however he/she makes sure than no innocent person will be at risk because of them. Of course, no one will ever want to use any person to get what he/she aims except for those evil-minded creatures who continued their cruelty just to get the material things they wished to live with not only for their survival, but only just to have those things. Hence, pain will never leave us alone, however it served as our motivation to eagerly finish what needs to be finished.
The movie portrayed the inspiring lessons that everyone must bear in their minds. It told us that it is never cruelty would win. It sent to us the message of Karma that says, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Therefore, good would always prevail and no other could beat it.
Reference:
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Pan’s Labyrinth Plot Summary. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
Ebert, R. (2007, Agust 25). Pan’s Labyrinth Reviews. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2007
41074242
Aileen P. Tagoctoc BSE English 3B
English 78 MWF 4-5:30PM
Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review
Pan's Labyrinth happened in the Spain right after five years during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. It was directed by Guillermo Del Toro, the most challenging directors in the fantasy field because he invents from scratch and adapts into his own vision. The movie was visually stunning and I loved how darkness, sorrow, amd brutality made the movie a milquetoast modern fairytale. It inspired me especially when the young girl sacrificed her own life for the sake of others.
The movie was about a beautiful, brave, kind-hearted young girl named Ofelia. She's fond of reading books especially fairytales and magic which made her to see one on their way to Captain Vidal's place. Ofelia's father was a tailor, who died during the war. Her mother met the cruel and sadist Captain Vidal and he eventually became Ofelia's stepfather. Her mother, Carmen, was ill and pregnant when they moved to Captain Vidal's place. The fairy showed up and made Ofelia to come with her to the labyrinth wherein she met the faun, half-man and half-goat creature from Roman mythology. According to the faun, Ofelia was bore by the moon and the mark on her left shoulder proves that she was the King's daughter named Princess Moanna of the Underworld. Ofelia was given three tasks by the faun before the full moon to make sure that she will not become a mortal. These three tasks were found in the book of crossroads: put the three magic stones in toad's mouth that lives under the fig tree in the forest to retrieve the golden key inside his stomach; retrieve the golden dagger from the pale man's lair using the key; lastly, fetch her newly born baby brother and bring him into the labyrinth. Ofelia made a mistake on the second task - she ate two grapes from the sumptuous feast table of the pale's man that made her to do the third task which was the last chance to open the labyrinth.
This movie is full of mysteries, fairies, fauns, monstrous toads, and a creepy scene of the child-eating creature with eyes in the palms of his hands, the pale man. It was also a movie that represents kind-heartedness, bravery and the willingness to sacrifice life for the sake of others safety.
On the last part of the movie, Ofelia left the mortal world and transported into the underworld realm where she saw both of her parents alive sitting on the top tall thrones. In her kingdom, she was called as "Princess Moanna" and ruled the kingdom with honor and justice.
The main point of the movie is that bravery requires to endure the pain as the cost of sacrificing. The willingness to assume all the hardships and suffering made Ofelia a brave half sister to her baby brother by sacrificing her own blood to pass the last task given to her.
Reference:
Rotten Tomatoes (2006). Pan's Labyrinth.
Retrieved from https://www.rotentomatoes.com/m/pans_labyrinth/
Canubas, Aljun C.
BSED-Eng 3B
Pan’s Labyrinth
by Guillermo del Toro
(A Movie Review)
The movie is all about the story of a young and beautiful girl named Ofelia. She is a kind of girl who has the love for fairy tales. Her biological father was a tailor who died during the war. She, together with her pregnant and sick mother named Ofelia, transferred to her stepfather’s place, Captain Vidal. She also met Mercedes, a maid who works for his stepfather and a spy for the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War. Here, she had seen the cruelty showed by his stepfather, and discovered the realities of the world she lived with.
She met the faun who told her that she was Princess Moanna, the daughter of the King of the underworld. According to the faun, her real father had opened portals all over the world to allow her return, however in a condition. She must complete the three tasks from the book of crossroads and these were to put the three magic stones in the toad’s mouth to retrieve the golden key from inside of his belly, to get the golden dagger using the key from a pale man’s lair, and to fetch her newly born brother and take him into the labyrinth.
While she kept on doing the tasks, unfortunately, things are not much good in the real world. Captain Vidal continued her cruelty, and her mother had born the baby, but she died. Ofelia died when her father shot her. In the end, she woke up in the underworld and met her real parents. Her father then explained the good heart of hers when she refused to give her baby brother and did not want to spill the blood of an innocent. He said that it was the final and the most important task.
The central message that the fairytale would likely to tell is the willingness to accept sufferings and pains through the challenges in order to get something what the heart desires. Let us remember the sacrifice that Ofelia has shown in the movie. It only justified that anyone who wished for something good will do anything, however he/she makes sure than no innocent person will be at risk because of them. Of course, no one will ever want to use any person to get what he/she aims except for those evil-minded creatures who continued their cruelty just to get the material things they wished to live with not only for their survival, but only just to have those things. It is a clear manifestation to anyone of us in this world who continued to work hard in order to reach each and everyone’s goal for something. Hence, pain will never leave us alone, however it served as our motivation to eagerly finish what needs to be finished. The tasks given to all of us were there to be accomplished as well as to be completed to shape ourselves and to see how we live our life each day.
The movie portrayed the inspiring lessons that everyone must bear in their minds. It told us that it is never cruelty would win. It sent to us the message of Karma that says, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Therefore, good would always prevail and no other could beat it.
Reference:
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Pan’s Labyrinth Plot Summary. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
Ebert, R. (2007, Agust 25). Pan’s Labyrinth Reviews. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2007
41074242
Canubas, Aljun C.
BSED-Eng 3B
Pan’s Labyrinth
by Guillermo del Toro
(A Movie Review)
The movie is all about the story of a young and beautiful girl named Ofelia. She is a kind of girl who has the love for fairy tales. Her biological father was a tailor who died during the war. She, together with her pregnant and sick mother named Ofelia, transferred to her stepfather’s place, Captain Vidal. She also met Mercedes, a maid who works for his stepfather and a spy for the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War. Here, she had seen the cruelty showed by his stepfather, and discovered the realities of the world she lived with.
She met the faun who told her that she was Princess Moanna, the daughter of the King of the underworld. According to the faun, her real father had opened portals all over the world to allow her return, however in a condition. She must complete the three tasks from the book of crossroads and these were to put the three magic stones in the toad’s mouth to retrieve the golden key from inside of his belly, to get the golden dagger using the key from a pale man’s lair, and to fetch her newly born brother and take him into the labyrinth.
While she kept on doing the tasks, unfortunately, things are not much good in the real world. Captain Vidal continued her cruelty, and her mother had born the baby, but she died. Ofelia died when her father shot her. In the end, she woke up in the underworld and met her real parents. Her father then explained the good heart of hers when she refused to give her baby brother and did not want to spill the blood of an innocent. He said that it was the final and the most important task.
The central message that the fairytale would likely to tell is the willingness to accept sufferings and pains through the challenges in order to get something what the heart desires. Let us remember the sacrifice that Ofelia has shown in the movie. It only justified that anyone who wished for something good will do anything, however he/she makes sure than no innocent person will be at risk because of them. Of course, no one will ever want to use any person to get what he/she aims except for those evil-minded creatures who continued their cruelty just to get the material things they wished to live with not only for their survival, but only just to have those things. It is a clear manifestation to anyone of us in this world who continued to work hard in order to reach each and everyone’s goal for something. Hence, pain will never leave us alone, however it served as our motivation to eagerly finish what needs to be finished. The tasks given to all of us were there to be accomplished as well as to be completed to shape ourselves and to see how we live our life each day.
The movie portrayed the inspiring lessons that everyone must bear in their minds. It told us that it is never cruelty would win. It sent to us the message of Karma that says, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Therefore, good would always prevail and no other could beat it.
Reference:
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Pan’s Labyrinth Plot Summary. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
Ebert, R. (2007, Agust 25). Pan’s Labyrinth Reviews. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2007
RAMOS, JULIANNE L. BSEDEng-3B
Pan's Labyrinth was directed by a Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro. The main characters in the movie are: Ofelia, the protagonist, portrayed by Ivana Baquero; Carmen, Ofelia's mother, portrayed by Aridna Gil; Capitan vidal, the antagonist, portrayed by Sergi Lopez; Mercedes, one of Capitan Vidal's househelps, portrayed by Maribel Verdu; and the Faun was voiced over by Doug Jones.
The movie is catchy at the beginning until the end. If in books, it made me tearing through the pages excited of what would happen next. It was not the typical fairytale that I expected. There are parts in the movie that made me cover my eyes because of the brutal scenes. There are also times that I muted the volume just to avoid being startled. The background music sent me chills and kind of creeped me out but it was what gave the fairytale some spice. The animations, prosthetics, and actings were all good and they all looked realistic.
I was just unsatisfied on the part the part when Ofelia saw the weird creatures for the first time and she acted calmly. If I were her, I would really freak out. Also, I was unsatisfied on the part when Ofelia was escaping from the creepy guy with the loose skin. It would've been better if the chasing scene was prolonged and Ofelia was captured by him. It would make the scene a little more breathtaking. I wasn't also satisfied with the ending itself because Ofelia died. Though it was shown that her soul is finally in peace, I just don't like the hanging piece that she will no longer see her brother grow, and be loved and taken care by Mercedes who would apparently stand as their surrogate mother in their new peaceful place without her wicked stepfather. But generally speaking, I loved the movie and I'm glad it was introduced to us. It made me realize that having a good and unselfish heart is more than having worldly riches. Our life is short and we never know when will it be taken from us. It is upon us how we want the people to remember us. The movie also shows that there is a good place prepared for a good person when he or she leaves this earth.
References:
http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
Canubas, Aljun C.
BSED-Eng 3B
Pan’s Labyrinth
by Guillermo del Toro
(A Movie Review)
The movie is all about the story of a young and beautiful girl named Ofelia. She is a kind of girl who has the love for fairy tales. Her biological father was a tailor who died during the war. She, together with her pregnant and sick mother named Ofelia, transferred to her stepfather’s place, Captain Vidal. She also met Mercedes, a maid who works for his stepfather and a spy for the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War. Here, she had seen the cruelty showed by his stepfather, and discovered the realities of the world she lived with.
She met the faun who told her that she was Princess Moanna, the daughter of the King of the underworld. According to the faun, her real father had opened portals all over the world to allow her return, however in a condition. She must complete the three tasks from the book of crossroads and these were to put the three magic stones in the toad’s mouth to retrieve the golden key from inside of his belly, to get the golden dagger using the key from a pale man’s lair, and to fetch her newly born brother and take him into the labyrinth.
While she kept on doing the tasks, unfortunately, things are not much good in the real world. Captain Vidal continued her cruelty, and her mother had born the baby, but she died. Ofelia died when her father shot her. In the end, she woke up in the underworld and met her real parents. Her father then explained the good heart of hers when she refused to give her baby brother and did not want to spill the blood of an innocent. He said that it was the final and the most important task.
The central message that the fairytale would likely to tell is the willingness to accept sufferings and pains through the challenges in order to get something what the heart desires. Let us remember the sacrifice that Ofelia has shown in the movie. It only justified that anyone who wished for something good will do anything, however he/she makes sure than no innocent person will be at risk because of them. Of course, no one will ever want to use any person to get what he/she aims except for those evil-minded creatures who continued their cruelty just to get the material things they wished to live with not only for their survival, but only just to have those things. It is a clear manifestation to anyone of us in this world who continued to work hard in order to reach each and everyone’s goal for something. Hence, pain will never leave us alone, however it served as our motivation to eagerly finish what needs to be finished. The tasks given to all of us were there to be accomplished as well as to be completed to shape ourselves and to see how we live our life each day.
The movie portrayed the inspiring lessons that everyone must bear in their minds. It told us that it is never cruelty would win. It sent to us the message of Karma that says, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Therefore, good would always prevail and no other could beat it.
Reference:
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Pan’s Labyrinth Plot Summary. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
Ebert, R. (2007, Agust 25). Pan’s Labyrinth Reviews. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2007
Name: Tinohan, Ethel Hope A. BSE- English 3B
Movie Title: Pan’s Labyrinth
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Fantasy and Reality
Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie that takes place during the post-Civil War in Spain in the year 1944. It is all about a girl named Ofelia who is fund of fairy-tales. She happened to meet a fairy who brought her to the labyrinth and there she met this Faun who told her that she is the princess of the underground realm and his father is waiting for him there.
The story is mainly focusing on Ofelia’s life journey, from her childhood where her father died, up to her new father Captain Vidal, then to his pregnant mother, to her journey in acquiring immortality then to his brother who died and then when he saw Mercedes helping the rebels up to the death of Vidal and then to her journey home down there.
The movie’s theme is all about love and sacrifices in any situation. Just like Ofelia’s mother who loves her so much and died loving her, Mercedes who love her brother so much that is why she sacrifices her safety in order to save those rebels and in order for them to survive. Captain Vidal also who show her love towards his son by sacrificing his life for the sake of his son. Lastly, the protagonist of the story Ofelia, who love her family and willingly give up her mortality so that the world she was in would have peace and harmony.
All over the movie is great to watch since it is mixed with fantasy. It is not boring since the main character has two worlds to deal with. But the most important lesson that is present in the story is to love is to sacrifice. No matter how cruel you are or how kind you are if you really love the person who is in danger you will really sacrifice everything you have even your own life you will sacrifice for the sake of the person that means everything to you.
References:
Retrieve from: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/pans-labyrinth
Retrieve from: https://www.google.com/search?q=Pan%27s+Labyrinth&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Retrieve from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
Retrieve from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/plotsummary
Retrieve from: http://www.shmoop.com/pans-labyrinth/summary.html
DAWANG, Mae Ann C. | BSE-English3B
PAN’S LABYRINTH MOVIE REVIEW
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the cinema with this fantasy-drama set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and detailing the journeys of a young girl, Ofelia who maybe the mythical princess of an underground kingdom. It's any good fairy tale—with a story about a princess of the Underground Realm. It seemed and sound like kind of scary movie from the very beginning because of its visual graphics and background music.
We're first introduced to eleven-year-old Ofelia and her mother Carmen as they travel to Captain Vidal's estate. Carmen is pregnant and isn't having an easy time of it. And Ofelia's mind is lost in the realm of fairies. She even thinks a small nasty stick insect from the stone is a fairy and thinks it’s from the land of fairies.
A ferocious Captain Vidal, prepares to welcome his pregnant bride to the family home in the forest, which he is reinforcing as a military redoubt because it is surrounded by guerrillas holding out in the woods. His new wife Carmen is a widow who has accepted Vidal's proposal of marriage out of loneliness; Ofelia, her daughter by her first marriage, is terrified of this wicked stepfather.
She has discovered a labyrinth occupied by a faun who hails Ofelia as a Princess, but tells her she must carry out terrifying tasks to enter into her destiny.
Ofelia sets out to reclaim her kingdom and return to her grieving father after completing the three task. She had decided to protect his brother as he will be offered as a sacrifice. Ofelia indeed made a right choice. The story was both ended with both happy and tragic. Happy because Ofelia returned home in his father in the under realm and ruled her kingdom justly. Tragic, since most of the characters died, only Mercedes and the other Guerillas lived and keep the revolution alive.
There's a lot of violence in Pan's Labyrinth, bloody and deadly labor and the violent deaths of other main characters. All this and we haven't even touched on the general aura of creepiness of the creatures like the Faun and the Pale Man.
Making choices is one of the central theme of the film. Choices are hard. It's a wide world full of infinite possibilities. But whatever decisions you've had to make, hopefully none of them have been as dreadful as those in Pan's Labyrinth: say, choosing between the possible death of your baby brother and your eternal life as a princess.
But Ofelia's not the only one who has to make the tough choices. Even the war between Vidal and the rebels is characterized by choice: Vidal has chosen to be evil and the rebels have chosen to fight evil.
She was a small, delicate being in old stories story made for mature people and it is all about a story of a long lost daughter of a ruler from the underworld. During the Spain-sourced Civil war and some group of one taking arms against government goes on to fight, a young girl named Ofelia and her pregnant mother named Carmen come to full of force with her cruel stepfather, Captain Vidal. In the building housing machines, she discovered a complex network where an insect who makes great change into a small, delicate being in old stories had attraction for her to move into the complex network and inside, she had meeting with a faun who let be seen her Destiny of being the long lost daughter of a ruler from the underworld and in order for her to profit, she must complete the three works. Ofelia loves to read small, delicate being in old stories story and she believes that what she have read does have existence. longing for unnatural land, she takes the work through the book that guides her.
One of her work is to get the key inside the stomach of a great small jumping animal living on land and water under the tree in the Forest, second is to take the of great value short blade from the animal's bed of a feebly colored- man, a very young person user strange (unnatural) animal whose eyes are in the back of hand of his hand.
However, aside from unnatural journey was her Escape from his step father who is obviously cared only for the very young person inside the womb of the mother, Carmen. Captain Vidal was very cruel and he takes the supporters up in the Hill and puts to death them in the hard way. The very highest point of this story was when Ofelia was given the chance to complete the work and that she has to take her new born brother to the complex network where her kindheartedness was being test by the faun.
In harmony with to the faun, she has to offer the blood of the baby in order for her to come back to her kingdom but she refused to offer her brother's blood. Captain Vidal who gone after her in the complex network came and Ofelia have no good quality but to give back the baby. Captain Vidal then goes suddenly her with his gun and she ends up offering her own blood instead of his brother's blood. In the end, Captain Vidal was put to death by the supporters and the very young person was taken by Mercedes, one of the supporters who fight for their lives.
Ofelia on the other hand have proved that small, delicate being in old stories story have existence as she have come back to her country led by a king where the king and Queen is in store for her.
-Ralph Christian G. Caingles
AS-Engl 4
Apao, Andy Luke F. ASEngl 4 Eng 78 TTh
2:30- 4:00 pm
Pan’s Labyrinth: Movie Review
A huge contrast of real and unreal worlds of creative fantasy that Guillermo del Toro had made. It is a brave and adventurous accomplishment, and attained an adorned warm excellence. By no means, the film's political dimension is never a quite as extravagant or
as enthusiastically achieved as its fantasy life, and will be contrasted with
the pure strength of its dream life.
Del Toro’s 2006 film, the Pan's Labyrinth is all about the Spanish Civil war that happened in 1944. A fierce Captain Vidal, played by an exceptional sinister Sergi López, prepares to welcome his pregnant bride to his home in the forest, which he uses as a military support,
as well, because it is surrounded by guerrillas who field out in the woods.
Carmen (Adriana Gil), Vidal’s new wife and a widow who take his proposal of
marriage out of solitude. Ofélia (Ivana Baquero), her daughter by her first husband,
is petrified and dislike this terrific stepfather. On that night after arriving,
Vidal brutally beats and shoots two suspected guerillas whose rifles are for
hunting purpose only. After he murdered the two farmers, Vidal get the pouches
and finds dead rabbits inside. He ordered Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), his chief
servant, to cook the rabbits for dinner. He is totally a despicable man.
Ofélia has a plan to escape. This brilliant and bookish child discovered a labyrinth underneath the house occupied by a splendid and overwhelming faun who hails Ofélia as a Princess, but tells her she must carry out disturbing tasks to enter into her fate. She did it without telling the elder people of these strange things below the ground. Vidal's housekeeper and doctor have unfaithful sympathies.
The film shows the political philosophy of fascism, in which it stands for an autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). On the other hand, the monsters in the film are extraordinary. It portrays the originality of Del Toro's pictorial devices.
Ofélia must confront those monsters and must fair to the giant and imperious faun, Pan. The frightening part of the film is that when she approached the terrible figure of the Pale Man, whose eyes are in his hands to look for.
Del Toro’s Pan's Labyrinth makes a powerful film that brings the exotic world side-by-side. There is no compromise, there is no escape and the uncertain instances are always present. Perhaps Del Toro's fantasy of the uncertain and autocratic faun is not just dramatic private fears of Ofélia, but a way of working through fear and mistrust of its own past. It was an amazing images in Del Toro’s thoughts.
Sources:
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/pan-labyrinth/review/
Retrieved on April 2, 2017
http://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/panslabyrinth/
Retrieved on April 2, 2017
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Retrieved on April 2, 2017
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pans_labyrinth/
Retrieved on April 2, 2017
Bacus, Faith Kimberly T.
BSED ENG 3A
MWF- 3:00-4:00 PM
Movie Review
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s labyrinth is a Spanish movie directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The movie was set during the Falange, a a Spanish fascist movement founded in 1933 and dissolved in 1977. It was the official ruling party of Spain under General Francisco Franco in the year 1944. Ofelia, a young girl who loves to read books especially fairytale came to know and explore the world between fantasy and reality as she stay in the place of her sadistic step-father, Captain Vidal together with her pregnant mother, Carmen.
When I was still a young girl, fairytales, prince charming, magic and happy ending is all I can think of but as time goes by I realized that the world of fantasy is really different to the real world. In the movie, gender inequality is being depicted as well as the abuse of authoritative power, brutality, and rebellion for the taste of justice and humanity which is still present in the modern times. It is very far different from the fantasy world where everything seems so perfect.
The forest around the old mill where Ofelia and her mother come to live is full of signs and portents: old carved stones and half-buried, crumbling structures that attest to a pre-modern, pre-Christian body of lore and belief. In much of the West that ancient magic survives in the form of bedtime stories and superstitions, and these in turn, as Mr. Del Toro evokes them, lead back through the maze of human psychology into the profound mysteries of nature.
The labyrinth where Ofelia met the fairies and the faun served as a gateway to the world of fantasy which she consider as paradise and a place where she cannot feel all the burden she is keeping inside.
In general, the movie is a must watch especially for the young ones for they can easily grasp the morals from the movie and they can also start to differentiate the existence of fantasy and reality in a real-life scenario.
The story was set in Spain on 1944. Ofelia, a girl charmed with books and fairytales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her stepfather, Capitan Vidal, who is a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. At night, a fairy came to her, whom she already met on their way to the encampment, and takes her to a faun in the center of the labyrinth. The faun tells Ofelia that she is a princess on the Underground Realm, but must prove it by enduring three horrifying and dreadful tasks. If she fails to succeed, she will not prove herself to be the true princess and will never see the king, her real father, again. These tasks may be hard enough, but she also has to get through her brutal stepfather, who only cares for her brother.
The story started off with a dying girl on the ground. A narrator then told the story of how the Princess of the Underground Realm escaped to the outside world and lost her memories of the realm. It then continued with the story of Ofelia and her pregnant mother moving in with Capitan Vidal, Ofelia’s new stepfather. Its plot had no twists and eventually came back to the scene where a dying girl – which was Ofelia – lying on the ground. It then ended with her dying on the real world and restored her throne as a princess.
Director Guillermo del Toro sticked to the plot making the movie quite predictable. Even so, he made it unexpectedly spectacular.
The movie has an outstanding cinematography and lighting. The movie’s cinematographer, Guillermo Navarro, even won an Oscar award in 2007 for Best Achievement in Cinematography. They effectively created both a horrifying and an enchanting vintage atmosphere which beautifully dominated the movie.
The music fits the movie pleasantly. They have a great choice of music that contributes to both the fantasy and horror themes of the movie. What I liked was Mercedes’ lullaby which turned out to be the opening music when the movie started. It was played, or rather sang, thrice throughout the whole movie.
The movie is a fantasy anchored with war which unexpectedly paired out well. The director, Guillermo del Toro, sticked to the plot which made the movie quite predictable, yet he made it interesting through his concepts and characters. They even chose not to dub the movie. Even some would prefer to watch the English version; it is more engaging for me to hear the real voices of the characters.
Aside from its impressive plot, they also had impressive and exquisite effects, make-up and costumes. The creatures they made – the faun, the pale man who had his eyes on his palms, the giant toad, the praying mantis who transformed to a fairy, and many others – were terrifying but considering on how they were made are truly remarkable. The artists, David Martí and Montse Ribé, truly deserved the Oscar award in 2007 for Best Achievement in Makeup.
The only unpleasant thing found in the movie was it was too brutal with its killings, especially with Capitan Vidal. Bloody and gruesome scenes never were censored nor cut. The movie would be acceptable for some adults but unsuspecting children could watch the movie without knowing its content yet. Hence, I would not recommend this to little kids.
Overall, the movie was exceptionally outstanding. People in the real world were grieving for Ofelia’s death, while Ofelia, or Princess Moanna, restored her throne in the Underground Realm. Its fear and enchantment were balanced. It leaves us hesitations if it ended as happy or sad. It also gives suspicion if the realm was real or if it was only part of Ofelia’s imagination and fantasies.
Online references:
Pan’s Labyrinth Cast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
Movie Reviews: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Pan’s Labyrinth Awards: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/awards
Darchny Z. Pusod
BSEd. ENGLISH3A
On Gambattista Basile’s "Parsley"
In classic fairy tales, the main character is more often a female figure. She is usually innocent, sweet, and beautiful, and the tale revolves around her. Beneath this surface, one can see many different depictions of female figures in fairy tales. Fairy tales evolve over time through different versions, told by different authors and “Rapunzel” is no exception. One of the very first versions of the tale appeared as a short story by the Italian writer Giambattista Basile, published on 1637.
Giambattista Basile’s early version of “Rapunzel” is almost completely neautral in the way it depicts both genders equally. Even though the price is a crucial part of the story in leading Parsley to happiness, Parsley is at least given power through traits of wit and skill, as Basile displays in a scene where Parsley fights the evil ogress herself: “But Parsley, recollecting the gallnuts, quickly threw the gallnuts on the ground, and lo! Instantly a Corsican bulldog started up,--- a terrible beast!—which with open jaws and barking loud flew at the ogress as if to swallow her at a mouthful” (Basile, 1637). This fearless ambition and sense of self in the main character is something that would tell you that women can stand independently and can stand alone on her own.
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Movie review
Title: Pan’s Labyrinth
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Main Actors: Ariadna Gil, Ivan Baquero, Sergi Lopez
Run Time: 118 mins.
Year: 2006
In a dark time when hope was bleak, there lived the young girl whose only her escape was in a legend that wanted her back. The legend speaks of a long lost princess from another world who will one day be reborn. There will be signs that mark her return. There will be secrets that reveal her destiny and there will be journey that will make you believe the existence of the unknown and mystical creatures. Pan’s Labyrinth of 2006 is one of the most amazing and incredible movies produced during the time. It was magically crafted by Guillermo del Toro. It is beautiful and exhilarating and unrelentingly imaginative.
The movie revolved around a bloody civil war. Following the gory world, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer. Armed with only her imagination, Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, and before Ofelia can turn back, she finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil.
Right when the movie started, the setting which was first exposed would actually give the viewers an idea about the presence of mystical creatures. The trees in the woods and the color of the environment was perfectly suited to the genre of the said movie. The whole setting would also support the idea that the civil war occurred on 1944 for the materials used, was of that time as well. The weather is also one of the factors that will give more flavor and heaviness to the scenes of the movie. Another affecting factor that uplifted the quality of the movie is the special effects being applied. From the monsters’ appearance that looked so realistic, the lighting that added mood in every scene and the sound effects that fitted to the atmosphere of the scenes. Lastly, the message that this movie have. Truly, it is a fairy tale for grown-ups for it does not only depicts magic and imagination but also, it would tell you that in darkness, there can be light. In misery, there can be beauty and in death, there can be life.
For all viewers who seek excitement and wanted to travel inside an enchanted world then, this movie is right up just for you. This movie deserves a two thumbs-up for it was woven perfectly that maintains enchantment to one’s eyes.
Sison, Zerlen Joy N.
BSEd English 3B
There are a lot of similarities between what is happening in Ofelia’s fantasy world and what we see on human world. Ofelia compared to other people, is an eleven year-old, up-to-no-good-girl who is completely innocent and does not even know what the real fairies are, who really is young and curious. Unlike the fact of shared features of people that most of the time our expectations are quite different from the reality. Ofelia on the other hand, her imagination is roofed in her reality, but it is apparent that her journey and ours are bounded by common thread: curiosity. After all, everyone desires to choose a wide world full of infinite possibilities that leads us to go beyond the limits. Likewise, Ofelia’s curiosity leads her to supernatural realm through the eye of the statue and following the fairy into the labyrinth. The thing that makes her curious was, she is unaware about the consequences of her actions driven by an emotion that pushes her to the said journey.
It all laid out for us the metaphor of growing up, that is although we are innocent, but still forced to deal with older concerns which were reflected by harrowing tasks in an alternate reality. Her story is not a journey towards acceptance of the thing she found out and witnessed the horrors, blood and even eventual death; instead it is a journey away from them. Ofelia’s journey is a journey of curiosity, but not of growing up.
Pan’s Labyrinth is like any good fairytales with a story about a girl, not just an ordinary girl. It is not because Pan Labyrinth is a fairy tale without sex scenes or drug abuse, and the protagonist in the movie might be young and innocent, so as in real life does not mean it is a fairytale for children. Because there are a lot of violence and it is not only about bloodless bullets, but there are beginnings of an amputation and the resolution of torture.
From the narration, long ago in the underworld realm where there are no lies or pain, there lived a princess who dreamt of the human world. One day, the princess escaped. The outside brightness blinded her and erased here memory, that made her forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered from cold, sickness and pain. Eventually, she died. The King always knew that his princess would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time.
What we remember about Ofelia is the reincarnation of Moanna, the Princess of Underground Realm, a string title for her. It is also a story that exists within the confines of Ofelia’s brain. She is nothing but a put upon kid: her Dad is dead, her Mom is on the tough cycle of pregnancy, and her stepfather is as evil as any step-parent in a fairytale. She is a girl with serious imagination. As her life gets harder and harder to take, she needs to tell herself about her true identity. The film cuts back and forth from different worlds. The movie has notable transitions that made the viewers understood what are the meaning behind the images used. The series vertical and horizontal wipes used to transition between the fantasy and the human world.
Name: Rica Quennie J. Lloren
Section Code: BSEDEng-3B
Pan’s Labyrinth or El Laberinto del Fauno (original Spanish title) is a 2006 horror-fantasy, Spanish-Mexican film starring Ivana Baquero as Ofelia, Sergi Lopez as Capitain Vidal and Doug Jones as Pan. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, a Mexican filmmaker. The movie had received many international recognitions such as Academy Awards, Best Film Not in the English Language, Ariel Award for Best Picture, Saturn Awards for Best International Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor by Ivana Baquero and Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.
Set during the Spanish Civil War in 1944. It depicts a story of an 11-year-old girl named Ofelia who have an appetite for reading fairytales. As Ofelia and her pregnant mother had moved to a villa where Captain Vidal was staying, the new husband of her mother who was known for his cruelty, Ofelia was unaware of the fate that awaits to her. Upon her arrival to the said place. She discovered a labyrinth where she had later encountered Pan, a faun who had revealed her real identity as Princess Moanna, the daughter of the god of the underworld who died but is believed to eventually reincarnate. However, she can only go back to her body the moment she proved her worth by accomplishing the three tasks given by the faun. As she tries to do her task, she will also have to face the struggles in her life to the current world where she lives in at the same time.
The film will not just give the audience a taste of a fairytale with a dark theme. In fact, it offers some flavors of historical, political, sociological and feminist themes that will allow the viewers to connect with the plot. In addition, the film has a very good quality of cinematography that will help the viewers to understand the film more, as well as its background music which adds up to the emphasis of a dark atmosphere within the film, and the aesthetically pleasing costumes, prosthetic make-ups of the characters (especially of Pan and the Pale Man) and also, the settings such as the labyrinth itself had helped to the overall production of the film.
Furthermore, the acting of the actors had given justice in the portrayal of the characters that they are playing. In fact, the good thing about this film is that, the audiences can witness an actual character and plot development. All the characters who have major roles and significant characters had achieved portraying or delivering their functions in the creation of the whole story without leaving the other characters hanging and with unresolved plot, as well as the end of the story is highly satisfactory which does not give you a kind of a cliché fairytale ending.
As a whole, Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie that you should not forget to include in your “Must-Watch Movies” list, for this film will surely entertain and feed those audience who hungers for fairytale themed movies accompanied with grim elements that had added more excitement and will surely leave the viewers an unforgettable experience of film-viewing.
References:
Ebert, R. Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review & Film Summary (2006). Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Pan's Labyrinth (Film) - TV Tropes. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/PansLabyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
Eufelna M. Acma BSED-English3A
MWF 3:00-4:00 p.m
Pan’s Labyrinth Movie Review
Directed By: Guillermo del Toro
The movie takes place in Spain, as it is shown during the Spanish Civil War. A war is fought between soldiers and guerillas. The movie is likely not a typical children’s tale. Others call it fairytale for adults. The main character, whose name is Ofelia, gives life to the story as she started it with curiosity and wants to discover and know more,. She found out that there is a mythical world near the place where she and her mother transfers, because her mother marries another man who is the captain.
The fairy showed up in their bedroom to let Ofelia follow it on an abandoned labyrinth. Ofelia is believed to be the daughter of the king of the underworld, as told by the faun, a faun is the servant of the underworld kingdom. The faun told her also that her real father had made them open the portals to allow her return, and her real identity is a princess and her name is Princess Moanna and not Ofelia. The faun commands Ofelia to do the three tasks without asking question and just obeys him and finish it before the moon is full, and as child and a child believes other things, so she did what the faun has told her. Some of the tasks fulfilled and some are failed due to circumstances that the child also can be tempted by what they want. In the almost last part of the movie when she take her brother to bring it to the labyrinth to offer tiny drop of blood, the captain followed her and sees no other creature but only a girl holding her baby brother. This is to mean that all the child has seen can only be seen by a child as they are just innocent ones who believe that fairytales and mythical creatures are true, but not they have known that all they have seen is just the product of their imagination.
In the movie, love and sacrifice is shown and its end result becomes liberty. The innocent dies, the enemies dies, and it remains with the ones that survive from the war where everyone can change what had started wrong and to make it right, unity comes within. It is what it should be done, although there are situations that are not avoidable. It is a fact that everyone should put it on their mind.
Contrasting the real world from fantasy in one movie. It was the work of imagination in Guillermo del Toro’s mind. The movie was a good example of a complete mixed fantasy and suspense. We can also say the it is a horror movie that compare the fright that we see on fauns to Vidal’s cruelty. It ignites the atmosphere of magical story to be merged in a real world situation. The movie reveals a characteristic of a determined woman. A woman who can fight with her fate to survive and complete tasks in two different world.
The movie starts when Captain Vidal was assign to the forest to hunt down the rebels. He was so cruel that he always got angry whenever he’s being disobeyed. He moves in his new wife Carmen with his stepdaughter Ofelia in the camp. Vidal’s gave importance to her wife because of the baby in her womb that will grow like him and follow his footstep.
Ofelia discovered a fairy and led her to a faun who gave her three task to be completed. A poor little girl facing two tasks in real world which her stepfather doesn't even care for her and the challenges in the fantasy world. She was struggling on what to do next but still able to managed to accomplished. Ofelia failed to complete one of the task and the faun disappeared.
Ofelia was given a last chance and this time she would do whatever the faun says. She accept the challenge and took his brother as requested by the faun. In the labyrinth, a sacrificed for an innocent blood was said by the faun and Ofelia refuses the offer. She was chased by her cruel stepfather that time when the faun has gone and said that she’ll now face the consequences.
In the real world her reign was over but on the other side she was a hero and worth living that her reign has just began.
Joel G. Acapulco Jr.
TTH-2:30-3:00
Demerin, Kennu G. – BSEd-English3B
Title of the Movie: Pan’s Labyrinth
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Fantasy, War, Drama
Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish fantasy film released last 2006 and was written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The story focuses about the mixture of both fascist post-war story and a world filled with magic and fantasy; a movie that can either frighten or amaze a certain viewer.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) started in the country of Spain in the year 1944. The Spanish Civil War has been over for five years but small groups of guerrilla rebels continue to fight against the new fascist dictatorship led by Francisco Franco. An eleven year old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) who loves to read books and fairy tales travels with her sick mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil), to the village of Navarra to live with his step father, Captain Vidal (Sergi López); an officer of Franco's army and is stationed with his men at an old mill. Ofelia’s mom, Carmen is pregnant with Vidal's child; Ofelia's father who was a tailor and had died during the war. On their new home, Ofelia finds a missing eye and returns it to what she believed was its original place then a strange insect began to appear. She believed it was a fairy. Later on, a faun appeared and told her that she is a princess from the underworld. She was assigned to do three tasks and will immortality in return. First task: she must retrieve a key from a giant toad that is sucking the life out of an ancient fig tree. Ofelia found herself a way to escape the real world filled with violence and decided to make this opportunity as an escape. Second task: she must retrieve a dagger from the Pale Man; however, the faun told her that she cannot eat anything there. However, Ofelia couldn’t resist temptation and ate a big grape that awakened the Pale Man immediately placed his eyeballs in his hands and chased her. Third task: The Faun asked her to bring her brother at the Labyrinth at night during the full moon. She was asked to offer the baby. However, she was stopped by the captain who mercilessly shoots her. Ofelia’s blood dripped on the Labyrinth and the self-sacrifice was fulfilled. Later on, she drew her last breath and left the mortal world. She was transported in a grand hall, and saw both her parents alive again.
The visual effects are good based on the year it was released. It has stunning effects but still a lot of rooms to improve but overall, I couldn’t find something bad about the graphics.
The movie taught us that life has no escapes. We must face our problems and find a way to solve it. Every beginning has to end. The movie represents the contradictions of real world and the magical world; the good or evil. All good things for those who wait.
TORRES, MICHELLE P. BSEDEnglish3B Class schedule: MW4-5:30
Pan’s Labyrinth
A review by: Lexi Feinberge
The story focuses on Ofelia who was brought to the mountain of Villa by her stepfather Vidal with her mother Carmen. In there, through the help of Mercedes one of the servant
Ofelia found out that she is a princess in the underworld. Her father created the Faun and the Labyrinth serve as a gateway for Ofelia to go back to the palace but she needs to finish the three (3) task. At labyrinth, she found a half-man and a half-goat who instructed her on what to do. First, she need to get the magical key inside the stomach of the toad. Through the use of the three magical stone that is given to her, she let it swallowed by the toad and that makes the toad soak his internal organs. She succeeded her first trial but not the second task. She need to get the knife from the man-beast who has eyes on his palms. That beast eats babies and she was instructed not to touch nor eat foods from the table where he is sitting. Ofelia disobeyed what the Faun had said and the two fairies is being eaten alive by the child eater beast because of the mistake of Ofelia. She got the knife but not successful. Faun got angry and told Ofelia that she will never go back to their kingdom. She got pissed and sad knowing that she couldn’t return anymore.
Carmen the mother of Ofelia gave birth to a baby boy but it takes her life. They captured one rebel who was the lover of Mercedes. The doctor helps him to escape from death but later on, Vidal the evil captain knew that the doctor helps the rebels and stab him on his back. And also the sabotage of the rebels and Mercedes. At night, Mercedes planned to escape and go far away. She took with her Ofelia who was not safe anymore without her mother Carmen. On their way escaping, Vidal found them and capture them both. He took Ofelia and brought her on her room. He got angry that makes him hit her. While Mercedes on the other side, Vidal is preparing to torture her but she always brought with her a knife and stab Vidal. She cuts his mouth and that makes Vidal have a serious mouth injury.
The Faun told Ofelia her last task to do and that is to get his half-brother, the son of her mother and the Captain. Ofelia is very smart that she put something to the water of Vidal and that makes him lost his senses but Vidal still followed them and got to the Labyrinth. In there, the Faun told Ofelia to sacrifice the child. In order to open the gate she need to sacrifice an “innocent blood”. Ofelia don’t want to do the task and when Vidal finally arrive, she gave the baby to his father Vidal. But still Vidal shoot Ofelia and that makes her fell down on the ground. Vidal went out but he was surprised because the rebels are waiting for him outside. He gave his child to Mercedes and the rebel shoot him on his face. Mercedes run quickly inside and found Ofelia lying down on the ground. On her last breath Ofelia dreamed of a kingdom (known to be the underworld) which she saw her father as a king and her mother as the queen. She was surprised to see them and the people in their kingdom. Ofelia is Dead.
Reference:
Wsws.org.2007.Into the depths of Franco’s Spain” Pan’s Labyrinth. International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).
Cantere, Saira Jenfel C. BSEd English 3B MW 4:00-5:30 PM
Mythology and Folklore (English 78) April 3, 2017
Movie Review
In a dark, harsh and violent world, Ofelia continue lives to her dark and magical world until such time that her final quest brought her death when she choose not to harm the child as a sacrifice in opening the portal. She was shot by her stepfather and later on, he hand the baby to Mercedes to ask her to take a good care of her son. He was then shot in the face, leaving him dead at the entrance to the labyrinth.
Mercedes and the rebels rush into the labyrinth and found Ofelia bleeding out into the stonework. Mercedes weeps uncontrollably as Ofelia draws her last breath.
As Ofelia leaves the mortal world, she is transported to a grand hall and sees bother parents, alive again, sitting atop tall thrones. She has been called home as Princess Moanna at last, to be reunited with the King and Queen. The faun appears and explains that the last task was a test of honor and integrity. Because Ofelia honored her own blood to open the portal instead of her brother’s, she proved herself brave and kindhearted enough to re-enter the underground realm.
The narrator then explains that Princess Moanna (Ofelia) became the eventual beloved ruler of the realm, and those small traces of her time in the mortal world are still visible, but only those who know where to look.
There are lots of themes present in the movie; some of it was about life’s choices and its responsibilities, the calling for adventure and immortality.
Pan’s Labyrinth is about choosing and making decisions like choosing between the death of her baby brother and her eternal life as a princess. Vidal and the rebels are characterized also by choice. The captain has chosen to be evil and the rebels have chosen to fight the evil.
The movie also calls for adventure and immortality. Ofelia completes the three tasks, the last of which involves her own death, in order to live forever. Only the innocent character like Ofelia can attain immortality, while the characters like Captain Vidal trying to etch their legacy in the fabric of time are doomed to be forgotten.
In conclusion, the story made the movie great and it reminded us that somehow we must not deprive ourselves in indulging adventure and always sticks to the rule. Sometimes rules are present for us not to compromise. Following your heart’s desire will never lead you wrong. It was indeed a remarkable movie!
References:
http://m.imdb.com/title/tto0457430/synopsis
Retrieved on April 1, 2017
http://m.imdb.com/title/tto0457430/plotsummary
Retrieved on April 2, 2017
Luna, Maria Emma L.
BSED-English3A
MWF 03:00-4:00
Pan’s Labyrinth
Movie Review
Pan’s Labyrinth is Alice in wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellblinding fable. Del Toro creates a magnificient fairy tale for grown-ups in which the innocence of fantasy collides with the horrors of war and the result is a devastating, poignant and unforgettable film of lyrical beauty, with astonishing visuals, great performances and a wonderful score. This movie is also known in Spanish as El Laberinto del Fauno (The Labyrinth of the Faun), is a 2006 Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. The movie was produced and distributed by Esperanto Films.
The story begins when her mother Carmen remarried to a sadistic army captain Vidal and soon to bear the cruel military man’s child, shy young ofelia is forced to entertain herself as her recently-form family settles into their new home nestled deep in a Spanish countryside. As Ofelia’s bed-ridden mother lies immobilized in anticipation of her forthcoming child and her high-ranking stepfather remains determined to fulfill the orders of General Francisco Franco to crush a nearby guerilla uprising, the young girl soon ventures into an elaborate stone labyrinth presided over by the mythical faun pan. Convince by Pan that she is the lost princess of legend and that in order to her underground home she must complete a trio of life-threatening tasks, Ofelia sets out to proclaim her kingdom and return to her grieving father as Vidal’s housekeeper Mercedes and doctor plot secretly on the surface to keep the revolution alive.
The Mexican director successfully made this horror and fairy tale movie by the great help of the 11 years old girl named Ofelia. Ofelia is a young girl who believes in the existence of fairy world. She is also believed as the reincarnation of Moanna, the princess of the Underground Realm.
If you see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future.
-Danielle Steel
Pan’s Labyrinth reveals most of its light through extremely dark, tragic moments. It shows that courage, beauty, love and truth can be found in the eyes of a child. Sometimes the only candle that stays lit in the midst of human depravity is the small flame of a child’s innocence. Recognizing her mother’s depression in the fact that she has entered into a loveless marriage, Ofelia shares with her a strong bond and tries her best to watch over her ailing mom.Digging deeper into the story, Pan’s Labyrinth offers more subtle messages about the value of fearlessness and fighting for a just cause. Although the protagonist barely out of childhood, her bravery has at least in that world far reaching ramifications.
The faun who describes himself as a nameless elements of nature “I am the mountain, the woods and the earth”tells Ofelia she was born in the moon and, she the daughter of the king of the underworld,is “not a man”. In the movie, Ofelia tells her mother and unborn brother, she creates a rose that promise of eternal life if plucked.
The movie has a great story and it reminds everyone to have courage in everything you do. Believing can move mountains. By believing ourselves we can do anything that is hard. Courage and love is more important than skills, masculinity and power because love inspires you and motivates you to conquer your fears. Like the child in the movie ofelia, being a child and never have the skills to fight but she conquered the things that is beyond imaginations. Dreamlike with its dark creativity and littered with subtext, Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish language nightmarish fairytale that decidedly not for children. The movie seeks to keep people from submitting to what can sometimes be mindless checks by filling them with the fear of what happens when you don’t think for yourself.
Rosano, Rica May D.
BSED- English3A
MWF 3:00-4:00 p.m
Movie Review
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth was a Spanish movie directed and written by Guillermo del Toro after the Spanish Civil War. Its main character was a little girl named Ofelia which the Princess of the Underworld “Princess Moanna” soul inhabited. Ofelia was a daughter of a tailor who died in a war, and later on her mother marries Captain Vidal who wanted her to give him a baby boy for his legacy to continue.
Ofelia whom Princess Moanna soul had inhabited met the servant of the Underworld named Faun who gave her three tasks to fulfill before full moon that was shown in the Book of Crossroads. First, were the magic stones to be thrown inside the toads’ mouth under the fig tree which she had managed to get the key inside the toads’ mouth. Second, Ofelia met the monster whose eyes were in his hands, which the Faun instructed her to obey all his orders so nothing bad will happen to her. But, Ofelia had eaten a grape that made the monster see her, however, through the help Faun’s pet she had escaped the place and had able to get the golden spear. The last task was to bring her brother to the labyrinth as an offering to open the portal which she’ll need in order for her to come home to his parents in the Underworld. Yet, Ofelia disobeyed the Faun for she loves her brother too much and so her step-father who was running after his son that Ofelia had brought shot her and delivered her to mortal death.
At the end of the movie, Princess Moanna came back to her father’s kingdom in the Underworld. Ofelia had died but Princess Moanna came back to her immortal life living with her mother and father. She left traces a human being through the fig tree.
LUCIL D. LIGMON BSED ENGLISH 3A
Movie review of the movie Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish- Mexican dark fantasy film written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. It was and distributed by Esperanto Film. The story takes place in Spain in May- June 1994, five years after the Spanish Civil War, during the early Francoist period.
This movie is one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even if it anchored firmly in the reality of civil war. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) took shape in the imagination of Guillermo del Toro as long ago as 1993, when he began to sketch the ideas and images in the notebook he always carries. Pan’s labyrinth is a swift and accessible entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in its effects. Children can grasp moral insights in the movie.
The heroine is a girl named Ofelia, played by the uncannily talented Ivana Baquero, who was 11 when the film was made. Ofelia is a kind of child who eagerly read stories about fairies, princesses and magic lands, longing to believe that what she read is real. Mr. Del Toro obliges her wish by conjuring, just beyond the field of vision of the adults in Ofelia’s life, a grotesque, enchanted netherworld governed by the sometimes rules of folk magic.
That kingdom, in which Ofelia is thought to be a long-lost princess, may exist only in her imagination. Mr. Del Torro is less interested in debunking or explaining away the existence of magic than in surveying the natural history of enchantment.
The forest around the old mill where Ofelia and her mother come to live is full of sins and omens. Old carved stones and half- buried, crumping structures that attest to a pre- modern, pre- Christian body of lesson and belief.
Ofelia’s second reality inhabited by a wide- browed faun, a man whise eyes are in the palms of his hands, a giant toad, some mantislike insects and many other curious creatures can be a pretty scary place, and on her visits to it the girl is like many of a fairy- tale heroine, subjected to the various challenges and ordeals. Still, this vivid world of fairies offers her an escape from the oppression of a day-to-day existence dominated by her stepfather, Captain Vidal; an officer in franco’s army who seems to live by the maxim that facism begins at home.
The movie Pan’s Labyrinth is not overly concerned with moral subtlety. In Mr. Lopez’s perversely charismatic performance, Vidal is a Villain of the purest, ugliest kind. For Mr.Del Toro the opposite of evils is not holiness, but decency.
Ofelia serves as her stepfather’s foil not because of her absolute goodness or innocence but rather because she is stubborn and independent- minded. Her rebellion is as much against Carmen’s passivity as it is against Vidal’s brutality, and she gravitates towards the brave Mercedes as a kind of surrogate mother.
Fairy tales (and scary movies) are designed to console as well as terrify. What distinguishes Pan’s Labyrinth what makes it art, is that it balances its own magical thinking with the knowledge that not everyone live happily ever after.
The story has two endings, two final images that linger in haunting, unresolved tension. Here is a princess, smilingly restores to her throne, bathed in golden subterranean light. And here is a grown woman weeping inconsolably in the hard blue twilight of a world beyond the reach of fantasy.
Flores, Errol Brylle T. BSED-English 3B
The story Pan’s Labyrinth is a film directed by Guillermo del Toro where the film has a common theme which is the inclusion of fantasy and the sense of reality that is not quite as straightforward as it might seem. One of the elements that link del Toro’s film is the manifestation of evil in the story. Captain Vidal’s marriage to Ofelia’s mother means that her life will be very different as well as the treatment received by Ofelia is very unpleasing.
Pan’s Labyrinth reveals through the eyes of Ofelia, an eleven-year-old girl who is uprooted to a rural military outpost in Fascist-ruled Spain together with his mother commanded by her new stepfather, the Captain. Ofelia was powerless and lonely in a place of unfathomable cruelty and she lives out her own dark fable as she confronts monsters both other worldly and human.
In the human world, many people tend to believe the story of fairy tales yet there are some who do not believe it. The movie “Pan’s Labyrinth” is something that portrays how essential fairy tales in some phase of our lives. It is the fairy tales that would help us understand some things that are happening around us and it was those people who really believed them can find answers or gain satisfaction as they lived around the world.
The tale of Pan’s Labyrinth somehow depicts a reality scenario where it is the good thing that prevails over evilness. It somehow illustrates how people change their perception in facing the real world eventhough during our childhood we were introduced to an ideal presentation of the world.
In Pan’s Labyrinth we tend to see those creatures that Ofelia also sees, it is because of how the movie is being portrayed and how the scenes captured the audience eyes. Pan’s Labyrinth is really a nice movie, which can serve as our eye-opener in understanding the purpose and essence of fairy tales in our lives and in the world we are living. Indeed, the film has its creativity, uniqueness and the message that would really encapsulates the hearts of the viewers through its ways on how to enhance our imaginations and interest. Thus, Pan’s Labyrinth also gives us a lesson that too much pride within ourselves is wicked and that too much confidence would lead us down.
Reference:
(2007). Pan’s Labyrinth. Retrieved from: http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/PansLabyrinth.pdf
Flores, Errol Brylle T.
BSED-English 3B
MWF 4:00 - 5:30 PM
English 78
The story Pan’s Labyrinth is a film directed by Guillermo del Toro where the film has a common theme which is the inclusion of fantasy and the sense of reality that is not quite as straightforward as it might seem. One of the elements that link del Toro’s film is the manifestation of evil in the story. Captain Vidal’s marriage to Ofelia’s mother means that her life will be very different as well as the treatment received by Ofelia is very unpleasing.
Pan’s Labyrinth reveals through the eyes of Ofelia, an eleven-year-old girl who is uprooted to a rural military outpost in Fascist-ruled Spain together with his mother commanded by her new stepfather, the Captain. Ofelia was powerless and lonely in a place of unfathomable cruelty and she lives out her own dark fable as she confronts monsters both other worldly and human.
In the human world, many people tend to believe the story of fairy tales yet there are some who do not believe it. The movie “Pan’s Labyrinth” is something that portrays how essential fairy tales in some phase of our lives. It is the fairy tales that would help us understand some things that are happening around us and it was those people who really believed them can find answers or gain satisfaction as they lived around the world.
The tale of Pan’s Labyrinth somehow depicts a reality scenario where it is the good thing that prevails over evilness. It somehow illustrates how people change their perception in facing the real world eventhough during our childhood we were introduced to an ideal presentation of the world.
In Pan’s Labyrinth we tend to see those creatures that Ofelia also sees, it is because of how the movie is being portrayed and how the scenes captured the audience eyes. Pan’s Labyrinth is really a nice movie, which can serve as our eye-opener in understanding the purpose and essence of fairy tales in our lives and in the world we are living. Indeed, the film has its creativity, uniqueness and the message that would really encapsulates the hearts of the viewers through its ways on how to enhance our imaginations and interest. Thus, Pan’s Labyrinth also gives us a lesson that too much pride within ourselves is wicked and that too much confidence would lead us down.
Reference:
(2007). Pan’s Labyrinth. Retrieved from: http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/PansLabyrinth.pdf
Fuentevilla, Sharenah N.
BSED – English 3B
MWF 4:00 – 5:30 PM
English 78
The story started as expected to any cliché fairy tale movies where one is to believe in fantasies and the other does not. However the bold passion of the girl, Ofelia, transcends the film’s boldness throughout its entire span.
Meanwhile, a film is considered successful when all of its elements coincide and together produce an excellent quality of film that is not only remarkable in screens but leaves the rest to the imagination.
One of the most crucial parts in a film is how the narrative is delivered, how it is delivered and how it will be delivered. In the movie, the director started the briefing that it will be all about war. In here, if audience are to pay close attention, the movie already gave a hint that it is about a war that may not be literally offensive but a chaos between different sets of realities For such, the movie encapsulated a whole picture that depicts how there are certain people who see and believe fairy tales and how some don’t. For the record, the director successfully displayed not just the main theme of the movie but incorporates everything as one. He as well efficaciously displayed an ominous, dark, and heavy setting depicting a theme of constant battle between good and evil and this was helped achieved by the effective and proper visual effects. The cinematography of the story helped made the setting more realistic and more dramatic, thus, majorly contributed in building up the emotional drive of its audience.
The techniques used by the director are very effective in putting "E (excellent)" in thriller. The skill of knowing what scene must be featured long and what scene must be cut in order to give adventure is very profound. This would have been a failure without the integration of visual and sound effects that pleasures the eye and leaves fast heartbeats.
In one of its example, when Ofelia was chased by the beast, the sound effects were clear in hooking the audience’s emotions and the visual effects added the whole experience. With the addition of mise-en-scene of the film, it left a majestic finish.
On the other hand, series of imageries and symbols completed the movie that made it compelling. It displays how the elderlies don’t believe in fairy tales because for somehow people grow up, and their ideas are influenced by cruel realities. In the end another cliché represented that good always win against evil may it be represented by the war or by Ofelia being successful.
The ending of where Ofelia died and lived again with her immortal parents shows a rebirth of new ideas, new principles and renewal of thoughts. It gave “happily ever after” as a finishing touch. I decode the message as a renewal of thought about fairy tales that I should not stop believing in them even if others have done so. The script was moving, and the scenes were convincing enough to justify my stand. Henceforth, the movie is indeed a massive success.
Reference:
(2013). The Five Formal Elements of Film: How to Critically Evaluate Movies. Retrieved from: http://collinsvillelibrary.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-five-formal-elements-of-film-how-to.html
NEY JOY T. BIGBIG
BSEd ENGLISH 3A
MWF 3-4
PAN’S LABYRINTH
Pan’s Labyrinth is a fantasy drama movie that tells the story of how the long lost princess of underworld returned to her kingdom. Set after the Spanish civil war, Ofelia’s mother remarries when his tailor father died. When Ofelia’s mother is at the peak of pregnancy, they traveled to the Mill where Captain Vidal was assigned. There, Ofelia started her journey to get back to her long lost kingdom. As she discovers the depths of the Labyrinth, she met mystical creatures found only in her books. Given different tasks to prove her real identity and to open the portals to the realm she ever dreamed.
When I first watched the movie, I felt scared because of its atmosphere. The mystical creatures are connected with the town folklore’s monsters and legends. The Labyrinth was a dark and dangerous maze and sometimes one might lost. Ofelia dreamed of a place where there is no war, no pain and no sufferings, but in order to get to that place, she must complete the tasks given. It reflects the reality of life. In order to achieve a harmonious life, we must experience a narrow and ugly road towards the realm of happiness.
The movie gives an enticing aura to the audience. Lessons that are found are not only for the children but also to adults who still believes in fairy tales, mystical creatures, place where there’s only laughter’s, love and choices.
CAST:
Ivana Baquero as Ofelia – she was a young girl who loves to read books and believes in fairytales. When she and her mother stayed at the mill, she discovers her true identity. She was told that she is the long lost princess Moanna, but in order to prove that she must do her tasks. When she failed her second task, the fauna given her a chance, to sacrifice her infant brother’s blood to open the realm but instead of doing it, she sacrificed her own blood.
Doug Jones as Faun – a faun is a half goat, half human creature that guards the Labyrinth. His job was to give tasks on Ofelia and told her about the truth. He guides Ofelia on how to save her dying mother.
Sergi Lopez as Vidal – he is Ofelia’s cruel step-father. He was only after the welfare of his son even though it would cost his wife’s life. He tortured and kill rebels, even starved them to death. he denies that his father died with the broken watch on his father’s wrists, but usually clean the broken watch of his late father. At the end, he was shot in the face.
Maribel Verdu as Mercedes – Mercedes was the maid that helped Ofelia when Carmen died. She was also helping the rebels and smuggled foods and antibiotics for the rebels.
Ariadna Gil as Carmen – she was Ofelia’s mother. When they live at the mill, her condition only got worst. Her pregnancy caused her death.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a fairytale about the journey of a young girl towards her realm. This movie is not the typical story between a prince and his journey to his princess, rather this movie is a story of finding was you belong. Discovering your real identity and doing the tasks only men can do. The events were carefully polished. Though, this movie does not only circulate about Ofelia and the Labyrinth, but it also tackles how the sadistic trait of the Spanish Captain Vidal was portrayed. It shows the life after the Civil war and how are the rebels’ fights for what they believe. There’s a scene were, Vidal killed two farmers because he thought that they are propagandists. Though the two men tell the truth, he still murdered them. While Ofelia was busy doing her tasks, the Spaniards on the other hand are making their way to kill all the rebels that survived the war.
When I saw the first part of the Pan’s Labyrinth, I thought that it was a horror movie. The Labyrinth that I had pictured out on my mind was far different to the movie. Though, this film has a small relevance to that of ancient Greek’s Labyrinth, the movie only shows how creative a mind can be. The fantasy between the real world and the world of mystical creatures were mixed and produce a unique story.
JENEY JOY T. BIGBIG
BSED ENGLISH 3A
MWF 3-4
HANSEL AND GRETEL
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm were German academics and authors of various types of folklores. They were among the best known authors and story tellers. Their book, Grimm’s fairytales are compilation of different folklore in different parts of the world. Cinderella, the frog prince, Hansel and Gretel, the goose girl and Rapunzel are some of their works that became popular even today. Though, their version is unusual and far different from the fairy tales written in books for the children, Grimm Brother’s version are the original source of our modern fairy tales.
The Grimm brothers used their folklores as propaganda in 20th century. Every story in Grimm’s fairytales reflects cruelty, violence and reality of life. The story of Hansel and Gretel reflects the incidents of missing children before. Some says that they were lost in the forest and eaten by wild animals, or worst, eaten by a wicked witch. Grimm’s version of Hansel and Gretel states that the step-mother was always cruel. It was also stated in the story of Snow and the seven dwarfs and Cinderella. It was always the step-mother the villain.
Though it may call folklore, Grimm brother’s tales are linked to true events. For example, the story of Hansel and Gretel, their step-mother decided what to do and what not. The father on the other hand usually agreed to what his wife said even it cost’s his children’s life. On the other version, men are stronger and cannot be told of what to do. They make the decisions and the wife only listens. In Grimm’s tale, the father is weak and loving. Opposite to what the society has.
Grimm’s version of Hansel and Gretel may sound morbid for it involves young children. But the way the two children think and defeated the evil witch shows how children handle their own fear even if they were ditched by their mother. Instead of die in starvation, the two found their way back home and welcomed by their father.
Bone, Lorgen T.
BSEdEnglish 3B
MW 4-5:30
Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie directed by Guillermo del Toro. It is one of the greatest movies that I have ever seen. It is my first time to see a movie like Pan’s Labyrinth which is fairy tale with collaboration of a war scene. It makes me amazed because it is a very unusual fantasy movie that I used to watched before which it always end with a happy ending but in Pan’s Labyrinth it was ended with death. It was a beautiful movie where in I have no regret after watching it. The movie explain how was the life in the fantasy different from the life in reality
The movie is about a girl who loves to read fairy tale and magic, she was Ofelia. Ofelia is a young lovely girl, brave and a believer that fantasy has a link to reality. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is a daughter of a tailor and to her mother a housewife. Her father died during the war and her mother marry again to a general named Captain Vida l(Sergi Lopez). Captain Vidal is a very selfish Captain which he only cares to his unborn son. As Ofelia reading, her fantasy mind took off to reality. It was said that she is a princess in the other world. She found it when she visited in the Labyrinth and met the Faun where the faun said that he was her servant and said that her named was Princess Moanna. Ofelia was given a task by Faun to get the golden hey to the giant frog under the tree using the 3 magical stone, that if ever the giant frog ate it, it will vomit the golden key. After which she should get the dagger from the Pale’s man. Then bring her new born younger brother to the Labyrinth. All of those scenes are amazing because it really gives the taste to the movie even if the main character is just young as she is, but she take the role seriously which it makes it amazing. The character portrays very well their role in the movie, even the creepy creatures, it’s my first time to see such creatures and it really makes some goose bumps in me when I so it. The movie has this beautiful lighting and even the bloody scene it looks like it is really true.
The movie taught me that not only horrible creature is the scary one but also we human being are more horrible than them cause we know how to think and plan a creepy thing to somebody that will makes him/her harm. I admired the role of Ofelia in the movie because she believe to somebody that has a creepy figure which she doesn’t vary in the physical appearance but in the lovely heart that could bring enlightenment of her thoughts.
Queenie C. Maquiso
BSE-English 3A
MOVIE REVIEW OF PAN’S LABYRINTH
Movie: Pan’s Labyrinth
Written by: Guillermo Del Toro, Carmen Soriano
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Drama, Horror and Fantasy
Setting: Spain (Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939)
Cast: Ivana Baquero as Ofelia
Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal
Maribel Virdv as Mercedes
“Pan’s Labyrinth” was one of the greatest fantasy films and at the same time, a horror movie of both reality and fantasy that blend together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable. It was written and directed by the Mexican filmmaker, Guillermo Del Toro. The movie was anchored firmly in the reality of war in Spain on May-June, 1994 and it was set five years after the Spanish Civil War. It shows the strange journeys of an imaginative young girl named, Ofelia or Princess Moanna (Ivan Baquero).
The movie suggests that fairytales violence helps to overcome real life conflicts and that real life violence permanently crashes the soul and the heart of men. At first, there is difficulty of apprehension right from the start of the movie because of fauns and fairies appearance while on the other hand, there is an inhuman sadist in the person of Franco’s fascists. The fauns and fairies are seen only by the 11 year old heroine. In fact, the fauns and fairies presence was not a dream rather they are as real as the fascists’ captain who murders on the flimsiest excuse. The prevalence of these two different worlds (fantasy and reality) is one of the terrifying elements of the movie. It was both impose sets of rules that can get an 11 year old kid killed.
Eunice P. Balayo BSE English3A
Title of the Movie: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006)
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Rating: R
Genres: Fantasy, War and Science Fiction
Setting: Spain (Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939)
(MOVIE REVIEW)
"Pan's Labyrinth" is one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is anchored so firmly in the reality of war. On first viewing, it is challenging to comprehend a movie that on the one hand provides fauns and fairies, and on the other hand creates an inhuman sadist in the uniform of Franco's fascists. The fauns and fantasies are seen only by the 11-year-old girl, but that does not mean she's "only dreaming" they are as real as the fascist captain who murders on the flimsiest excuse. Ofelia retreats into herself, finding in her fantasy world the lessons of courage, self-discipline and integrity she will need. With her, they travel beyond outward appearances, through a labyrinth of fears and uncertainties, from which Spain will not escape for several decades. She really loves to read books. Thefilm opens with a momentary shot of Ofelia, blood from a nosebleed disappearing as the frames are introduced in reverse. A voice-over takes us back to the time of the Spanish Civil War. Ofelia arrives with her pregnant mother at a nationalist military base in the woods and is introduced to her stepfather, a vicious commanding officer. Ofelia’s biological father was a tailor, who died during the war. Capitan Vidal dispenses arbitrary justice to anyone he suspects is against him. Two suspected rebels caught by his men are summarily executed. Only afterwards is a rabbit discovered in their bag, proving their claim that they are just woodsmen.
Ofelia creates an imaginary world of her own to escape the cruel and harsh realities of the world. A dark, brutal fairytale, chillingly set in the real world but full of hope and warmth, Pan's Labyrinth accomplishes a masterpiece. She retreats into a labyrinth where she meets a strange Pan-like creatures, it seems to her like a fairy, Fauno, half-man and half-goat who gives her a set of tasks to complete before the moon is full where she has to face some of her darkest fears, winning a key for her next task in order to obtain immortality according to the legend of a princess.These tasks are; retrieve a key from the stomach of a giant toad that lives under a tree in the forest, retrieve a golden dagger using the key from a Pale Man’s lair and lastly, fetch her newly born baby brother and take him into the center of the labyrinth. According to the Faun, she is the Princess Moanna from the underworld. In a dark, harsh and violent world, Ofelia lives her magical world trying to survive her tasks and sees her father and become a Princess of the underworld. The faun give her a Book of Crossroads that will show her future and what must be done but she can only read this if she is alone.
Ofelia gain eternal life not only through the symbolic assumption of motherhood as well as the afterlife, she leaves the mortal world, she is transported to a grand hall and sees both of her parents, alive again, sitting on the top tall thrones. She has been called home as Princess Moanna at last, to be reunited with the King and Queen. The Faun appears and explains that the last task was a test of honor and integrity. Because Ofelia offered her own blood to open the portal instead of her brother, she proved herself brave and kind-hearted enough to re-enter the underworld. Princess Moanna became the eventual beloved ruler of the realm, and that small traces of her time in the mortal world are still visible.Ofelia becomes a symbolic mother figure to her infant brother by paying the price thematically required through her own blood sacrifice.
Gumbao, Sunshine B.
BSE- ENG3A MWF 3:00-4:00 PM
Pan’s Labyrinth
(Movie Review)
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
The lambency of Pan’s Labyrinth is that the prevailing creativity that runs in both ways that makes it originative. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, unapologetically and unpretentiously swears allegiance to a pop-fantasy tradition that encompasses comic books, science fiction and horror movies One of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is fastened so firmly in the reality of war. The movie provides fauns and fairies that create an inhuman atrocity in the form of Franco fascists. The 11-year-old heroine, named Ofelia, she is not dreaming thus seeing the fauns and fairies are real, they are as real as the fascist captain who murders on the flimsiest condone. The dreadful elements of the film lay set of rules that can a kid be killed. The movie is a swift and accessible entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in its effects. A child could grasp its moral insights (though it is not a film recommend for most children), while all but the most cynical of adults are likely to find themselves troubled to the point of heartbreak by its dark, rich and emphatic emotions.
The heroine is a girl named Ofelia, played by the Enigmatic talent Ivana Baquero. Ofelia is the kind of child who eagerly reads stories about fairies, princesses and magic lands, longing to believe that what she reads is real. Mr. Del Toro obliges her wish by conjuring, just beyond the field of vision of the adults in Ofelia’s life, a grotesque, enchanted netherworld governed by the sometimes harsh rules of folk magic.
That realm, in which Ofelia is thought to be a long-lost princess, may exist only in her imagination. Or maybe not: its ambiguous status is crucial to the film’s coherence. Like the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Mr. Del Toro is less interested in debunking or explaining away the existence of magic than in surveying the natural history of enchantment.The forest around the old mill where Ofelia and her mother come to live is full of signs and portents: old carved stones and half-buried, crumbling structures that attest to a pre-modern, pre-Christian body of lore and belief. In much of the West that ancient magic survives in the form of bedtime stories and superstitions, and these in turn, as Mr. Del Toro evokes them, lead back through the maze of human psychology into the profound mysteries of nature.Ofelia serves as her stepfather’s foil not because of her absolute goodness or innocence but rather because she is skeptical, stubborn and independent-minded. Her rebellion is as much against Carmen’s passivity as it is against Vidal’s brutality, and she gravitates toward the brave Mercedes as a kind of surrogate mother.
Mercedes’s surreptitious visits to the rebels often coincide with Ofelia’s journeys into fairyland, and it may be that the film’s romantic view of the noble, vanquished Spanish Republic is itself something of a fairy tale. The creatures Ofelia faces in her adventures may be scary, but her greatest challenge comes when she needs to deal with her own troubled world.
In the film there is also a sense of allegory between the film and Spain as a whole and parts of religion. For instance there are the fascists vs the rebels which, in a way, represents battles between the allies and the fascists. There is also a religious context of self-sacrifice. This is shown with the doctor, Mercedes and Ofelia when she will not allow the faun to harm the baby.
This self sacrifice is very bold and honorable of the characters to do, this also shows that to have peace there must be sacrifice.
MIA SHELLA CARUMBA
BSED-English3A
MWF 3-4pm
BSE-English 3A
MOVIE REVIEW OF PAN’S LABYRINTH
Movie: Pan’s Labyrinth
Written by: Guillermo Del Toro, Carmen Soriano
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Drama, Horror and Fantasy
Setting: Spain (Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939)
Mia Shella Carumba BSED-English3A, MWF 3-4pm
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a film that will have you in all different types of emotions. It is not just a fantasy movie. It's a fantasy movie that has impacted our imagination. The story depicts about a girl named Ofelia who gets in the middle of a Civil War and a fantasy story. She moves in with her stepfather, the leader of a Republican military resisting the rebellion of Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. During this she meets the magical faun Pan and completes tasks set for her to become an immortal princess. Pan's Labyrinth is a dark fairy tale for adults. Beautiful, emotional, brutal, and haunting, all in one. Part historical drama, part psychological thriller, part fantasy, the film is perfectly directed and acted, and with some really nice visuals as well. Not all the CG looks that great (the frog, for example), but it doesn't take away from the experience. Pan's Labyrinth is Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece, a film that will always be remembered for its brilliance, it's brutal violence, and it's enthralling story, as well as a perfect ending. The only thing that could really take away from your experience with this fantastic film is that it's a bit lower-key than many might expect. Don't get caught up in all the hype.
It fits neatly into the categorization of the fantasy genre, where magic is often a driving force of the plot. The genre of fantasy uses a number of conventions such as good vs. evil, the quest of the hero, magic and magical beings to tell a story, and Pan’s Labyrinth is no exception to this rule.
Fantasy works often have the hero or heroine drawn into a magical world, where they must complete a task in order to leave, such as Dorothy destroying the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. The theme of good versus evil is one which is often used in these sorts of stories. In Pan’s Labyrinth, Ofelia moves between the real world and the fantasy world quite a few times, and her tasks in the fantasy world parallel those in the real one. The battle between good and evil takes place in Ofelia’s world, where the evil ruler is her own stepfather, Captain Vidal. He is part of the oppressive government that has just won the Spanish civil war, but are still fighting bands of insurgents. Dismissive of his new wife and stepdaughter, all he cares about is the birth of his son to be “in a new, clean Spain”. Ofelia steals her brother away from Vidal, but refuses to spill his blood (the blood of an innocent) in order to achieve her final task. Vidal shoots her, and it is Ofelia’s own blood that allows her to finish her quest and receive her reward. It is also her death that leads to Vidal’s downfall, and the evil ruler of the story is vanquished.
You will be left to to think about This movie for days after viewing. This is the perfect fantasy for adults, and probably one of my favorite fantasy movies of all time. I seen where someone said it was the Alice in Wonderland for adults and it is exactly that. It is so beautiful and innocent. The beauty of this film is that their are two ways you can take this film and it is based on your personal experiences in life on how you see it. This is Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece. Storytelling at its best. Camera work is great and most of all the make up is no doubt academy award worthy. This is a must watch film.
Referrence:
https://roomtensmags08.wikispaces.com/Essays%20Pan%27s%20Labyrinth
Glycel L. Tanginan
AB-ENGLISH 4
TTh 2:30-4:00 pm
Movie Review of Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth is a Spanish-Mexican film which shows fantasy or dark film. It connects the imaginary world to the real world. Its Spanish title is El laberinto del fauno. The cast uses Spanish language but it has an English subtitle. Guillermo del Torro is both the writer and director of the movie. After the Spanish Civil War in May-June 1944, the story takes place. 1944 in Spain, the setting of the movie. The starring characters in the movie are Ofelia (Ivana Banquero) who is the main character in the movie, Carmen (Ariadna Gil) who is the mother of Ofelia and impregnated by Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez) who is a sadist under cover as a rigid military man, and Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) chief servant of Vidal.
The movie begins with the underground kingdom that was the void of the lies and the pain. The king had a daughter and this princess escaped because she was so curious about the world above. She was blinded by the sunlight and her memories were erased, she doesn’t know how to deal in the new world and so she died. The king was very hopeful that his daughter would come back in another life through reincarnation so he made labyrinths. In Spain by the year 1944, young Ofelia who was following a bloody civil war enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather who was a tyrannical military officer. Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth, encountered a fairy who guided her into the faun or a supernatural creature that is half man and half goat. The faun told Ofelia that she was the daughter of the king of the underground kingdom and she has a chance to come back to the kingdom but she must prove herself first that she is worthy of returning. She was given three tasks by a magical book to complete before she could return to the underground kingdom. The first task is to retrieve a key from the stomach of a giant toad. She was also told to look for a moon mark on her shoulder. Carmen, Ofelias mother has a complicated pregnancy. Her mother became weaker each day so she did not continue her task at that time. One night, the faun came into her room and ask her why she did not proceed to the next task yet then she answered that her mother is getting weaker. So the faun gave Ofelia something and a tip for her mother’s magical treatment.
It was effective and so Ofelia starts her second task. Her second task was to retrieve the golden dagger which would be found in the place of a monstrous creature that they called the pale man and also a child-eater. The faun gave her the things that could help her for getting the dagger. That time, she disobeyed what the fairies had told her which is not to eat anything from the table because the pale man will get their attention. She was tempted by the foods and she ate some grapes. The pale man gets the eyes from the plate and put it on the sockets of his hands. The pale man attacked them; the two fairies were eaten by the pale man. Despite the happenings there, she was able to get the golden dagger and returned home. The faun came to her room and the fairy angrily told the faun about what had happened. The faun got angry and told her that they should not continue it because of her disobedience. One day, Ofelia checked the magical humanoid with the milk under her mother’s bed which made her feel better. Unfortunately, her stepfather Vidal caught her and scolded her. Her mother was disappointed with her too and she even threw the humanoid into the fire to prove to Ofelia that magic doesn’t exist and that caused her mother’s death. Her mother died but her brother from the womb was saved. Vidal and his men continue to hunt the rebels in the forest. While they were looking for those rebels, he got some evidences which proves that someone is betraying him and Mercedes was one of them. He has a rebel brother named Pedro. Mercedes planned to escape with Ofelia but they were caught. Ofelia was locked into a room and Mercedes was punished. By the moment that Ofelia was locked in a dark room, the faun showed up and decided to give her another chance to prove her worth of returning to the kingdom. She was told by the faun that her last task is to bring her baby brother to the center of the labyrinth. Mercedes had escaped by wounding Vidal and was rescued by his brother and the other rebels. Ofelia escaped from the locked room with the use of the magical chalk which was given by the faun. She put something on Vidal’s drink and escaped with her baby brother. When they reached the center of the labyrinth, the faun told her to drop a blood of an innocent baby brother. Ofelia refused to harm her baby brother and gave up the chance to return. Vidal saw Ofelia talking to the air and so he forcibly get the baby from her and shot her with a gun in her stomach.The blood ran through the portal to the underground kingdom.
Vidal tried to escape but when he get out from the labyrinth, Mercedes, her brother, and the rebels were there. He had some request before his death but the rebels did not permit it then Pedro shoots him on his face. However, Mercedes and the rebels rushed into the center of the labyrinth and there they found the body of Ofelia with blood. As Ofelia leaves the mortal world, she was transported to the underground kingdom. The faun congratulated for passing the last task which is the test of honor and integrity by refusing to harm her baby brother and she offered her own blood to open the portal. The acting were good as if it is really true. Guillermo del Toro is the most challenging directors in the fantasy field because he adapts it into his own vision. There is so much impact and intensity in the movie and a lot of visual imagination. Also, the movie is so powerful in a sense that the two kinds of material which is obviously not compatible are put together and insists on playing true to both, right to end. The dangers in each world are always present in the other. Del Toro also has a rule of three in the movie; three doors, three rules, three fairies, and three stones.
The movie was great because it intertwines the real world with a mythical world. It brings us into an imaginative world. Though it is anchored firmly in the reality of war, I also considered it as one of the greatest of all the fantasy films. It also shows the oppression of the dominant people. There are rebels because they were not given the freedom of living equally as what the powerful and authoritative people had. On the other hand, though it has a fairy thing and fantasy thing, I should say that it is not advisable to the children because it also contains violence and scariest elements in the film.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006).Plot,cast,director.Retrieved from www.wikipedia.com
The New York Times.March 30,2016.Pan's Labyrinth Critics'pick. Retrieved from www.mobile.nytimes.com
n’s Labyrinth
By : Ellen C. ALegado BSE-english 3A
The movie indicate the Spanish civil war has been over for almost five years but the small groups of guerrilla rebels continue to fight against . A ten year girl name Ofelia a quiet lover of books and fairy tale was with her mother Carmen who is pregnant travailing to the place of rural village of navarra where his new husband stationed and his men at old mill.
When Ofelia and her mother had arrive the captain immediately acknowledge the arrival of his wife who conceive his baby and show a little concern for his new stepdaughter .The captain appoint a local doctor, name Ferreiro to take care of his wife. Ofelia wander a strange stone structure upon going into the structure she suddenly interrupt by Captain Vidal housekeeper name Mercedes and explain to her that the structure is an ancient labyrinth and she reminded Ofelia not to enter .
late that night Ofelia awoken by the sound of the wind and the saw insect that she was spotted during their journey to mill. She was so amaze and she consider the insect as the fairy tale, the insect transform into tiny humanoid and show Ofelia to follow it into labyrinth, When Ofelia came inside the labyrinth she greeted by faun a super natural creature that half-man and half-goat . He tell Ofelia that she was the lost Princess Moanna from underworld long time ago. Faun said that his father the king of realm was longing for his come back and faun was sent by the king to bring her back but this is been done if she accomplish the three task to prove that she worthy of returning. So faun present Ofelia a book that will guide on her task which she must complete by the next full moon.
The first task , when she find the fig tree and crawls into the covern below , she deceive the giant toad by feeding to vomit the key inside . Finally Ofelia find the key. Despite her punishment upon disobeying her she was very satisfied for achieving the first task.
Her second task. Her task involved a horrific lair monster and retrieving a golden dagger above all things..
And her third task was to offer her baby brother innocent blood to open the portal for as her to return her true home but Ofelia refuses to let her brother be harm in any way and give up her chance in entering the her kingdom.
Ofelia leaves the mortal world . She finally meet her parent again sitting atop tall thrones and she has been called Princess Moanna at last they were reunited again . Faun Reappear and said to her that the last task was to test her honour and integrity. Because she chooses to offer her blood rather than her brother. She is brave, kind and loving that enough to proved that she deserved to re-enter the underworld realm
Ibias, Mary Bhel B. ASENGL4
A movie review on Pan’s Labyrinth
The movie of “Pan's Labyrinth” is directed and written by Guillermo del Toro. The word Labyrinth is like a maze chambers or complicated passages designed, that a person entering would find it difficult to go out (Redmond, 2009). This can be seen in the movie in which the main character portrays how she was reassured to cross the path even though she is not sure if she will be able to come back alive.
In his masterpiece of creating this movie, it foreshadows the unpleasant event that will happen to the protagonist. The significance of the movie to the real world is through the villain who makes bad things. There is always good and bad in this world and this movie depicts the characters action and their behaviour. As stated by Roger Ebert (2007) in his movie review, "Pan's Labyrinth" is one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is anchored so firmly in the reality of war. The fairies, fauns, and fantasies, monster are seen only by the 11-year-old heroine. It is not a dream but it eventually occurs in the movie.
The darkness, sorrow, and brutality of Pan's Labyrinth tell the story of a young girl and her wicked stepfather that portrays as the villain. He was a fierce, strict, and terrifying in the movie. Ofelia became sad when her mother’s pregnancy made her ill. The central part of the story is when Ofelia meets several strange and magical creatures. Through her eyes she had the ability to see something that a normal person can’t see. Her trials and challenges encourage her to become brave and strong. There are some parts of the movie that contains a shocking event that can make you feel terror. It is like a horror story that includes monsters, darkness, realm, and other mythical events. Just like in the part when she use the magical chalk that can open a portal though the lair of horrible monster whose eyes are on his hands. She was forbid to eat any food that serves in the table but she disobeys it and eats hungrily. Her disobedience causes the monster awake and tried to kill or eat her. It is a lesson that no matter how the delicious food looks like, you need to control yourself from eating it. She is pathetic and I feel pity for her.
According to Redmond (2009) Pan in relation to Greek mythology, he is god of shepherds and flocks. Pan was depicted to appear with human arms and a human torso but his ears, horns, and legs look like a goat. Pan was especially like to live in mountains and caves. The faun in the movie lives in the place where only darkness can be seen; it is a place where the sacred ritual can be held. Pan was believed to be responsible for the sudden terror felt by the travellers who passes by in the place where Pan lay. But in the movie del Toro has stated that the creature found in the movie is not Pan but a creature faun name Jones who tells Ofelia that if she performs a certain task, she will be rewarded to become queen of a magical land. These could mean that she wants to escape from reality or pain that she felt from her stepfather who treated her badly. She also fantasizes to become somebody.
The word Faunus (refer to Jones in the movie) is related to the Roman of Greek god Pan. He was attended by the fauns, creatures’ that looks half men and half goats, related to the Greek satyrs. Faunus, in Roman mythology, the grandson of the god Saturn, worshiped as the god of the fields and of shepherds. In some legends Faunus was identified as an early king of Latium, who taught his people how to plant crops and breed stock (found in the movie where the faun give Ofelia a mandrake root to hide under her mother's bed and feed with two drops of blood daily). People believed that Pan speak to people through the sounds of the forest and in nightmares. Just like in the movie, Ofelia communicates to the faun and only gives her a small advice but there is still a secret behind those advices. It is the part where she put the tree that looks like a baby under the bed of her mother. She didn’t know that it would kill her mother in exchange of letting the baby alive and also without knowing that her brother would be used as a bridge for her to become Queen. To save her brother from becoming a sacrificial lamb she sacrifices her own life and dies a miserable death. This event happens when her own blood drops to a sacred place that the faun prepares. At the end of the movie Ofelia die and became part of the mythical place where she can be happy together with other mythical creature.
Therefore, this movie portrays a fictional scene, including the mythical creature that can be seen in the movie. The movie uses effects to bring life to its creatures. The sound effects, lights, physical appearance and the facial expressions of the character’s use are unique for some parts of the movie.
References:
Ebert, R. (2007, August 25). Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review & Film Summary. Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006
Newman,K. (2016). Pan’s Labyrinth Review. Retrieved from http://www.empireonline.com/movies/pan-labyrinth/review/
Redmond, WA. (2009). Faunus. In Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
Redmond, WA. (2009). Labyrinth. In Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
Redmond, WA. (2009). Pan (mythology). In Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
n’s Labyrinth
By : Ellen C. ALegado BSE-english 3A
The movie indicate the Spanish civil war has been over for almost five years but the small groups of guerrilla rebels continue to fight against . A ten year girl name Ofelia a quiet lover of books and fairy tale was with her mother Carmen who is pregnant travailing to the place of rural village of navarra where his new husband stationed and his men at old mill.
When Ofelia and her mother had arrive the captain immediately acknowledge the arrival of his wife who conceive his baby and show a little concern for his new stepdaughter .The captain appoint a local doctor, name Ferreiro to take care of his wife. Ofelia wander a strange stone structure upon going into the structure she suddenly interrupt by Captain Vidal housekeeper name Mercedes and explain to her that the structure is an ancient labyrinth and she reminded Ofelia not to enter .
late that night Ofelia awoken by the sound of the wind and the saw insect that she was spotted during their journey to mill. She was so amaze and she consider the insect as the fairy tale, the insect transform into tiny humanoid and show Ofelia to follow it into labyrinth, When Ofelia came inside the labyrinth she greeted by faun a super natural creature that half-man and half-goat . He tell Ofelia that she was the lost Princess Moanna from underworld long time ago. Faun said that his father the king of realm was longing for his come back and faun was sent by the king to bring her back but this is been done if she accomplish the three task to prove that she worthy of returning. So faun present Ofelia a book that will guide on her task which she must complete by the next full moon.
The first task , when she find the fig tree and crawls into the covern below , she deceive the giant toad by feeding to vomit the key inside . Finally Ofelia find the key. Despite her punishment upon disobeying her she was very satisfied for achieving the first task.
Her second task. Her task involved a horrific lair monster and retrieving a golden dagger above all things..
And her third task was to offer her baby brother innocent blood to open the portal for as her to return her true home but Ofelia refuses to let her brother be harm in any way and give up her chance in entering the her kingdom.
Ofelia leaves the mortal world . She finally meet her parent again sitting atop tall thrones and she has been called Princess Moanna at last they were reunited again . Faun Reappear and said to her that the last task was to test her honour and integrity. Because she chooses to offer her blood rather than her brother. She is brave, kind and loving that enough to proved that she deserved to re-enter the underworld realm
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