Happy YouTube Day!

( Pretty European Animation )

Pan's Labyrinth

I’ve been looking forward to Pan’s Labyrinth more than any other movie this winter, which is always a bad thing when it comes to unrealistically high expectations. The trailer was the first in a few years to give me chills, there was a teaser poster by Mike Mignola, and the animation/entertainment community was abuzz about it for quite a while before it opened here. So, upon seeing it? Well … it was different from what I had expected, but not a disappointment. I had expected a whimsical dark fantasy with a framework of gritty realism; what I got was ghastly realism with a frame and occasional interruptions of whimsical dark fantasy.

There are no spoilers in the following unless you want to read them: ( Quite a Lot About Violence and then I Lose My Train of Thought )

I can't vouch for a lack of spoilers in the comments, so read them at your own risk.