Desensitize this...

So, okay, as Daniel was the birthday boy, he got to choose the movie. And as the movie looked really good, we all agreed on it.

Just before the movie starts, I look around and notice that there are absolutely no children in the theatre. I naively attribute this to the fact that it's the 10:10 showing and we're downtown. But really. There are always children at the theatre.

Pan's Labyrinth...

Now, for those of you who know me, you understand that I am not a squeamish person. Give me anything but doomsday movies and I can watch them till the cows come home. This movie, though, brought a whole new level of violence to entertainment, one which I really don't think I've ever seen before.

I must admit, though, that even with the frankness of this violence, which, admittedly, though harsh, really did help to forward certain characters. You come to realize towards the end that some of these people are hardly people at all, but brutal, mindless animals bent solely on reducing everything and everyone to their basest level.

Sad, sad, sad. This story reminds you of when there were fairies. And where there are fairies, there be monsters lurking close to. It's stark, it's ugly and somehow completely beautiful. And maybe everything doesn't end up all right in the end. But maybe it does.

A true fairy tale, confusing, dark, violent and gorgeous.

See it. Be ready to cover your eyes and gasp and jump and completely fall in love with it.

(I don't write movie reviews because I'm scattered and easily influenced by the voices in my head, but please understand that this is an endorsement).