'Pan's Labyrinth' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Kenneth's review of 'Pan's Labyrinth' is up. He's a fan of the film itself, and says this Blu-ray is quite strong, featuring a striking transfer, a jaw-dropping DTS HD MA audio track, and a wealth of supplemental content.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1181/panslabyrinth.html

[irrob]

I'm very pleased with the review! I love this movie and hoped it would live up to expectations in HD. An absolute must buy!

[Dyers Eve]

Going to Wal-Mart or Best Buy to pick this up a in a few moments!

[Nathan Drake]

Good review and I will pick this up in a few days but why is the Blu-ray version rated R and the HD DVD version Unrated on this review? I just checked Amazon.com and they have both versions rated R.

[irrob]

Originally Posted by Nathan Drake

Good review and I will pick this up in a few days but why is the Blu-ray version rated R and the HD DVD version Unrated on this review? I just checked Amazon.com and they have both versions rated R.

typo in the review. No unrated version exists.

[HiRez]

Picked this up today. It has honestly stayed with me since I saw it in the theater last year. Very haunting, and great visuals too. A must-own for me.

[Xtreem813]

This movie is amazing and would have easily won the Oscar if it wasn't up against the stiff competition of "Live of Others."

Movie- 5
Video- 5
Audio- 5
Special Features- 4 1/2
Overall- 5

The picture quality is truly amazing. I don't know where this reviewer gets off for criticizing it because the cinematography wasn't "natural." The measure of a great movie is it's surreal aspects. If we want reality we wouldn't be watching a movie. I thought rating picture quality is more about rating the quality of the transfer, not a critique of the photographic style of the film. This is a sad trend that has me moving more and more away from this site. If you want to criticize the photography then leave it for the review of the movie itself, not the video score. More importantly, if it doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of the images presented, as is the case here, it shouldn't be used as an excuse to give a lower score.

Fine detail is astounding and the colors are deep and practically pop off the screen throughout most of the movie. There's no noticeable dirt, scratches, blemishes or noise.

Audio is truly amazing. There aren't many 7.1 tracks out there, let alone one in DTS-HD, and this one is truly spectacular. The track fully envelopes you throughout the film.

This disc is fully loaded with tons of special features that will give you in-depth knowledge of the production. Guillermo's commentary is excellent as usual. The only thing that may bother some people is that he is Mexican so sometimes he will stutter to find words and his accent may make it hard for some to understand him but it never bothered me. He goes in-depth from the writing of the script to back story on specific scenes.

If you're a fan of the movie, this is a definite buy. If you're a fan of fantasy movies but are tired of their childishness than this movie is perfect for you. Rent if you are unsure but this is one of my favorite movies of last year.

[abbazappaplant]

this movie is a 5 star across the board for me... can't recommend it enough!

[Superking]

Cool, I'll pick this up on Tuesday along with Shoot 'Em Up. =)

[Blu-Bliss]

Originally Posted by Xtreem813

This movie is amazing and would have easily won the Oscar if it wasn't up against the stiff competition of "Live of Others."

Movie- 5
Video- 5
Audio- 5
Special Features- 4 1/2
Overall- 5

The picture quality is truly amazing. I don't know where this reviewer gets off for criticizing it because the cinematography wasn't "natural." The measure of a great movie is it's surreal aspects. If we want reality we wouldn't be watching a movie. I thought rating picture quality is more about rating the quality of the transfer, not a critique of the photographic style of the film. This is a sad trend that has me moving more and more away from this site. If you want to criticize the photography then leave it for the review of the movie itself, not the video score. More importantly, if it doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of the images presented, as is the case here, it shouldn't be used as an excuse to give a lower score.

Fine detail is astounding and the colors are deep and practically pop off the screen throughout most of the movie. There's no noticeable dirts, scratches, blemishes or noise.

Audio is truly amazing. There's aren't many 7.1 tracks out there, let alone one in DTS-HD, and this one is truly spectacular. The track fully envelopes you throughout the film.

This disc is fully loaded with tons of special features that will give you in-depth knowledge of the production. Guillermo's commentary is excellent as usual. The only thing that may bother some people is that he is Mexican so sometimes he will stutter to find words and his accent may make it hard for some to understand him but it never bothered me. He goes in-depth from the writing of the script to back story on specific scenes.

If you're a fan of the movie, this is a definite buy. If you're a fan of fantasy movies but are tired of their childishness than this movie is perfect for you. Rent if you are unsure but this is one of my favorite movies of last year.

Totally agree here! Video should have gotten a perfect 5! I was comparing this to Blade Runner which is perfect accross the board. I mean BR it's old and they did a good job with it, there's no doubt about it, but I still found some rough spots here and there.

I was watching Pan's Labyrinth and couldn't find anything wrong with it. This PQ is perfect! Amazing! I was very impressed! I had Blade Runner as #1 on my top list for Blu-ray, but after watching Pan's Labyrinth, I changed my mind. Pan's # 1!! in its entirety!

[Xtreem813]

Originally Posted by Blu-Bliss

Totally agree here! Video should have gotten a perfect 5! I was comparing this to Blade Runner which is perfect accross the board. I mean BR it's old and they did a good job with it, there's no doubt about it, but I still found some rough spots here and there.

I was watching Pan's Labyrinth and couldn't find anything wrong with it. This PQ is perfect! Amazing! I was very impressed! I had Blade Runner as #1 on my top list for Blu-ray, but after watching Pan's Labyrinth, I changed my mind. Pan's # 1!! in its entirety!

Yeah, it's pretty much perfect to me also. Granted I might not have the trained eyes these critics have but it's still amazing. However the stars are a meaningless attribution for people who don't feel like reading so the casual viewer they will assume that it's not amazing, which it is, and can't stack up to other titles, which is completely false and misleading.

Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies of all time and it certainly looks astounding for a 1982 movie but it obviously doesn't quite compare to more recent movies like "Pan's Labyrinth" or "Casino Royale" to my eyes but they're all deserving of 5 stars.

[ToddS]

I am going to give this movie another shot. Rented it on SD DVD a few months back and could not get into it at all. Did not even finish it. Going to give it another shot in HD.

[mudstuff]

Ditto, I've had the UK Blu-ray for a couple of weeks and cannot fault the picture quality. The audio is stunning and there are more features on this than most big-budget hollywood blu-rays.

This should be a 5 across the board and it is unfair that the reviewer does not acknowledge the quality of the video and place it in the upper echelon of blu-ray titles.

[rded]

One of the best looking movies I have seen lately! Pan's and eastern promises joins pirates 123, batman begins and matrix trilogy as the best in PQ IMHO!

[mrkalel]

For some reason I could not get a 7.1 signal to my amp from my PS3, only a 5.1. I tried sending it with PCM (as usual for me) and also by bitstream. Nothing worked, and I do have a 7.1 stream from games as well as the PS3 itself. Is there a known issue of 7.1 tracks not being sent from the PS3 Blu-Rays correctly?