The best fantasy films (and this movie certainly makes the short, short list) challenge us. Here we have an almost aggressively bizarre film from the creators of the considerably more accessible "Amelie" (not that I didn't like that film, but it's much more easily lovable).
It's rated R, apparently for some very brief nudity and the few salty words that pop up in the subtitles. There are a couple of scenes that are really more upsetting than outright violent; for example, one main character is enslaved and made to fight another. But I think the real reason is that this is a great fairy tale for adults.
By turns disturbing and surprisingly moving, if the rumored film adaptations of Philip Pullman's lyrical and haunting _His Dark Materials_ trilogy REALLY have to exist, they should look like this.
It's rated R, apparently for some very brief nudity and the few salty words that pop up in the subtitles. There are a couple of scenes that are really more upsetting than outright violent; for example, one main character is enslaved and made to fight another. But I think the real reason is that this is a great fairy tale for adults.
By turns disturbing and surprisingly moving, if the rumored film adaptations of Philip Pullman's lyrical and haunting _His Dark Materials_ trilogy REALLY have to exist, they should look like this.