smells like pan

Rating: 1/10 (12 January 2007)

Because the film was named "Pan's Labyrinth," I expected something a-maze-ing. This is not what was delivered. Perhaps it is a product of my age, but I have no appetite for superfluous violenceand the film was practically dripping with blood. I did not find the richly imagined fairy tale some reviews had described. The fairy-tale aspects were sparsea shame because of the interesting look of the mythological elements and avenues they could have opened. Del Toro opted to construct both an under-developed war movie and an under-developed fantasy tale, resolving each with transparent cop-outs and plugging holes along the way with murder. I am beginning to suspect the Spanish are a gullible and artless people. Their limp thrusts at profundity bring back memories of a biologically thwarted collaboration of sorts that followed a night of heavy drinking. But fret not, ladies: that was my last night as a Spaniard.