Subtitles do not a masterpiece make...

Rating: 4/10 (23 January 2007)

This is not a good movie, it's an okay movie.
The Devil's Backbone was a masterpiece; it made me into a Del Toro fan and, since then, his films have gone rapidly downhill.
Del Toro's technique is sloppy and amateurish in this film. I can't count how many times the camera tracked into a dark object and bam! there we were in a different shot or scene.
This is the work of a hack, plain and simple.
I don't hate this film, it does have some great moments, but not nearly enough to justify the hub-bub, I just hate the pseudo-intellectuals that suddenly think they're film connoisseurs that are talking about it everywhere I go. It's not bad, but let's not kid ourselves, it's not high art either.
This movie just has a HUGE marketing push and it finally gives U.S. audiences a foreign film that they like and that makes them feel smart.
Good for you America, you can read... now get some taste.