They should have warned us about subtitles!

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2007)

While this was a fine movie with great cinematography and direction as well as fantastic set designs and CG effects, I think that the movie company should have warned viewers that they were about to see a subtitled film. Not doing so makes it seem as though I was lied to when I arrive in the theater, get comfortable and then realize I have to read the whole damn thing.
Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind subtitled movies. when I'm prepared for them (Brotherhood of the Wolf). But when I go to movies I generally don't bring my glasses because I don't expect to have to read. There are certain movies I will plan ahead for and bring my glasses to. The Labyrinth of the Satyr (I call it this because that is what the title actually translates to) would have been one. I just feel that letting the audience know would have been more honest. I felt tricked into watching his movie and I know several others felt the same way.
Also, I have to wonder why Del Torro felt it necessary to have characters smash, cut and shoot each others faces so much throughout the film. Was it really necessary for every head shot be shown up close and not shooting the head but rather the face every single time? Was it really necessary to spend all the money on CG just to do that "sewing my mouth back together" scene? I get he was trying to show the violence of the real world from which this imaginary world has sprung, but really, couldn't that have been done in a less moronic and disgusting way? I mean the brain is not in the face after all. Shooting someone in the cheek cannot guarantee you hit the brain and killed them.
A reminder also, most people can tell the difference between a Mexican accent and one of Spain, even those that don't speak the language. Having so many Mexican and other Hispanic actors in a movie that is supposed to be set in pre-colonial Spain is utterly ridiculous. Sorry to say that this is Del Torro's worst mistake. The common South American belief that all Hispanics actually are Spanish has taken him on track of Historical Revisionism which only tells people what they want to hear instead of what is actually true.
This movie could have been a 9 or 10, but sadly it loses points for misleading the audience and inauthenticity. Therefor only a 6.