Guillermo Del Toro has been on the fanboy radar for a while now, ever since he directed the fantastic Blade II (which to me is far superior to the first film) and of course bringing Mike Mignola’s Hellboy to the big and small screen, it was time for him to tackle his own material this time around. The result was Pan’s Labyrinth. A labor of love for Del Toro that brought him home the Oscar for Best Foregin Film at this years Academy Awards. Well now Pan’s Labyrinth has been released on DVD with 2 editions for your viewing pleasure and we have the review for the 2-Disc Platnium Edition DVD.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a fairytale but trust me this is no kids movie, it is dark and violent piece of story telling that pulls no punches. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is only 12, but the worlds she inhabits, both above and below ground, are dark as anything anyone could ever imagine. Set in 1944 Spain at the height of World War II, Ofelia and her widowed mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), have just moved into an abandoned mill with Carmen’s new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi López). Carmen is pregnant with his son. Other than her sickly mother and kindly housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), the dreamy Ofelia is on her own. Vidal, an exceedingly cruel man, couldn’t be bothered. He has informers to torture. Ofelia soon finds that an entire universe exists below the mill. Her guide is the persuasive Faun (Doug Jones). As her mother grows weaker, Ofelia spends more and more time in the satyr’s labyrinth. He offers to help her out of her predicament if she’ll complete three tasks. Ofelia is willing to try, but does this alternate reality really exist or is it all in her head? Del Toro leaves that up to the viewer to decide, Pan’s Labyrinth represents Guillermo Del Toro at the top of his game and leaves me looking foward to his next project!
The Folks at New Line certainly know how to make a Special Edition DVD, this thing is packed with features that everyone will enjoy:
• Introduction by Writer/Director Guillermo Del Toro
• Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Guillermo Del Toro
• Marketing Campaign
• Featurette: The Power of Myth - A Discourse on the use of fairy tale mythology in Pan’s Labyrinth
• Featurette: Pan and the Fairies - A comprehensive look at the prosthetic and visual effects crafted for the film
• Featurette: The Color and The Shape - Del Toro unravels the intricate color and texture coding present in all of his work
• The Charlie Rose Show - featuring filmmakers Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel)
• DVD Comics - Animated plates present prequel stories for The Giant Toad, The Fairies, Pan, and The Pale Man.
• Director’s Notebook - Interactive menu pages access videos that feature exclusive interviews with Del Toro
• Multi-Angle Storyboard Comparisons
• VFX Plate Compare
• Photo Galleries - Production Design, DDT creature Design & Production Scrapbook
The main attraction being the Audio Commentary of course, anyone whose seen any of Del Toro’s previous films on DVD will know that he is VERY interesting to listen to, the man certainly knows how to make movies and loves to talk about his influences, techniques etc…
- Rating: 5 out of 5
As one of the special features goes about mentioning Del Toro is very aware of the power of color in his films, and he knows how to use them to his advantage as in the end where the color palette is nearly exclusively limited to blues and blacks before exploding into vivrant reds and gold. The DVD features a 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer that is a marvel to look at. Wow another foreign language review, thats 2 in a row, on this disc you get not 1 but 2 Spanish Language tracks, the first is a 5.1 Dolby Digital EX track, the other is a discreet 6.1 DTS-ES track. I would give the edge to the DTS track but not by much, while the Dolby track is very good, the DTS one is much better with a more expansive soundfield that lends an immersive expirence to the overall enjoyment of the film.
- Rating: 5 out of 5
Quite possibly one of the best films of this young century gets a worthy DVD treatment, this 2-disc DVD release does a fantastic job of bringing the magical to life.
- Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Film and Features: 5
Technical Specs: 5
Overall Review: 5
Studio: PictureHouse/New Line Cinema
Genre: Fantasy/Foreign Language
Aspect: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: Spanish 6.1 DTS-ES, 5.1 DD-EX
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May 29th, 2007 at 5:38 am
i had such high hopes for this film,as critics did say its the next ”lord of the rings”. its so far away from that its unture.
good points: good acting,nice violent scenes.
bad points: no imagination is in this film,there are only about 3 cretures in it.it looses its plot half way though,not long enough,it reminds me of alice in wonderland meets lethal weapon lol,overall this could of been so much better with a little thought gone into it,but its sadly dissapointing.
June 15th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Wrong war; this was during the last days of the Spanish Civil War, meaning Spring of 1939. Del Toro claims it is a spiritual sequel to his film The Devil’s Backbone also during the end of the War.
Del Toro did pour himself into this production, more than any of his other movies, and it shows. For the DVD, he oversaw dubbing himself because he was so disappointed with the dubbing of The Devil’s Backbone. The DVD is great, I’m not sure how much HD could improve the picture on my smallish screen. This is a movie to lend out constantly to family/friends.