So…war is all butterflies and roses then? What a relief!

What I liked best about the movie was that Ofelia’s fantasy world was such a fragile thing. Was the mandrake really magical? Were the fairies anything more than bugs?

Throughout the entire movie, Ofelia’s fragile fantasy is held up with the equally fragile fantasy of the rebels, and indeed, that of the captain. The beauty of the background played against all three fantasies, which was excellent.

Del Toro explained Ofelia’s eating the grape as extreme hunger– she’d been sent to bed without supper the night of the dinner party, and hadn’t eaten since, due to her mom’s illness. I still think that Ofelia wouldn’t have eaten the grape. As a previous poster stated, a child who’s so into fairy tales would have known not to, no matter what.

I don’t think the captain was over-done. Other evil, sadistic men have come to even greater power due to their sadism. Hilter, anyone? Stalin? I think that a man like him, had he won the fight for the mill, would have gradually gained power and ended up leading the army.

The evil of the captain held up to the innocence of Ofelia was also extremely well-done. I found it interesting that he objected to the mandrake root. That section made me think of the witch-burnings, and the church trying to stamp out “evil” and failing to see the evil within itself.

Of course, the captain knew he’d lost at the end, and at that point, he was willing to let Ofelia go. She refused to leave without the baby, and that is why he killed her.

Mercedes’ character was my favorite, though. She did very well, skirting both sides. I liked especially how she became a mother-figure to Ofelia, at the same time Ofelia was physically caring for her own mother.

I wonder why the captain didn’t kill Mercedes when he tricked her into revealing she was helping the rebels. I think it must be because he needed her for the baby, but I wonder if he didn’t admire her courage, just the tiniest bit. I loved that she refused his last request, that the baby would never even know his name.

The end was so beyond well-done. Did Ofelia really enter into the kingdom? Or was it just the last fantasy of a dying child? I love that the movie left it open to interpretation. I want to say, “oh look! she’s in her father’s house, and now she’ll be happy and safe” but is there such a thing as happy and safe? Even now, we could be wiped out in many different sorts of disasters. There are no guarantees, not even here and now.

I’ve watched the movie several times. I don’t know if I like it or not– it’s a horrible, horrible movie that’s extremely well-done. A friend bought it for me, because it was listed as a fantasy along the lines of the Lord of the Rings. I was totally unprepared for what I saw.

I will watch it again, at some point (I have it on DVD), but yeah, I cried my eyes out.

I will never watch it again, and unlike you, I honestly am sorry I watched it. I started crying halfway through, and pretty much didn’t stop, and was still feeling shaky and sick, like I’d woken up from the world’s worst nightmare, two hours later. I did have nightmares for months, in fact. Because… all of that beauty, that whole rich, glorious, sensory orgy was a backdrop for the most horrible, chilling ugliness in the world, and the contrast just made every act of cruelty, every revolting monstrosity, every revealed ugliness of the human soul that much worse. It was like white roses covered in blood… rainbows made of crushed butterflies, still alive and silently screaming… laughing, bright-eyed toddlers playing with human entrails. It just felt so unutterably _wrong_ to have such horrors clothed in such splendor, so perverse, twisted, unsettling. It was far more disturbing, more horrific, than any slasher film — than any film I’ve ever seen, honestly, and I’m normally a “giggle and make sarcastic comments while the cast is dismembered” kind of girl — because of that. Nor am I the kind of person to object to the presentation of darkness/blood/violence in a sensual or erotic manner; I’m rather fond of that sort of thing, actually, when it’s done well. I think, though, that here it was done far _too_ well. The over-the-top violence was far too believable, the evil too real. It left me with a very real, unshakable feeling of absolute wrongness, in the end, and I only watched through to the end because, by the point I realized what I was watching, I couldn’t look away without knowing how it ended… as I said, it was _very_ well done. The ending itself — well, I won’t say anything to give it away, to anyone who might still wish to watch it, but I will say that I found it almost completely unsatisfactory, and it just added to the entire motif of beauty/innocence/hope being perverted/abused/destroyed, _whichever_ way it could have been interpreted, in my opinion. Overall, it was the most depressing, horrifying movie I have ever watched, while at the same time being an absolute, undeniable, artistic masterpiece.

I also have no idea how that poor little actress came out of that movie without needing some serious therapy, and am not sure that having/allowing a child act in such a thing shouldn’t be considered child abuse. On the other hand, she performed so amazingly, and from all reports came through with no issues at all, and it’d be plain criminal to not allow such talent to be shown and acknowledged…. so I’m torn on that issue.

I accept the mother’s desperation, and her willingness to accept the rule of the captain– she and Ofelia had to eat, after all. and many women have made similiar bargains in the hope of giving their children a better life.

The captain’s personal vendetta was ridiculously overdone, in my opinion. The war scenes were vicious, and definitely didn’t need to be as violent as they were. Nor did the captain need to be a sadist.

Ofelia’s fantasy world was well-done, however. The fact that the faun wasn’t necessarily good, or even necessarily on her side, made it more interesting.

The part of the story in the pic I found a bit silly– if Ofelia was really into fairy tales to the extent portrayed, she’d never have eaten the grapes.

The end of the movie left me emotionally drained and depressed.

This movie will stay with me for a very long time, but I hated it, and I wish I hadn’t seen it.

Anyway, he was VERY creepy in the movie. I think that the part with him in it was the scarriest. That movie was the best I’ve ever seen in my life! Everything was SO well directed and the theme is GREAT! I love seeing the other side of the war, as well as it being turned into a fantasy adventure!

They also did a REALLY good job while putting thought into this monster. He gives the plot-line a very “mythical legend” edge. The idea of him eating children that feed off of the food in his dining hall was just brilliant!

As soon as I saw the eyes on his hands, I shouted for my brother to come into the room. Not because I was scared, but because we are both Naruto-fans, and he reminded us both of Deidara. The only thing is that Deidara has MOUTHS on his hands, not eyes.

And the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four II: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Anyway, awesome movie with awesomely weird characters and extra special thanks to Del Toro for doing his own subtitles so those of us who are bilingual could watch a movie without being driven up the wall by inaccurate subtitles.

He eats kids!=)