Pan's Labyrinth

Reviewed by Marcio Guastavino
January 23, 2007

Director: Guillermo Del Toro Studio: Picture House Studios MPAA Rating: R Website: Click Here Review Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Courtesy Picture House.

From filmmaker, Guillermo Del Toro, comes a masterpiece. Taking place during the postwar repression of Franco's Spain , this tale is about a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) as she and her mother move in with her new stepfather, who also happens to be the Captain of a Spanish army out to eliminate a group of guerrilla fighters. While Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez) is in the midst of battles, Ofelia finds herself visited by a fairy who takes her through a labyrinth. At the end she meets with Pan, a faun who tells her that she is the princess of the underworld, and to regain her place by her true mother and father, she must complete three tasks to gain her immortality and prove she is the daughter that the king has been searching for. But with her mother about to give birth and her stepfather watching her every move, Ofelia must find a way to finish her tasks and keep away from the Captain himself.

I'll admit now, that when I heard fairy tale I was thinking a children's tale. Or rather, nothing to what Pan's Labyrinth threw at me. This movie is rated R for a reason and I tell you now that while the story itself could be seen as a children's tale, it's not. It's a very deep story as, not some mind trip that's not understandable. It has smooth scene transactions and great scenery throughout the whole movie. Some parts take a while to get moving, but I think that's why it plays off so smoothly. The movie has a lot of gore, including close up gunshot wounds, someone's face being beaten repeatedly, bones being broken, the works. The creatures that you get to see are pretty crazy looking too. It takes a wild imagination to think this stuff up.

The acting is great, even the little girl did a phenomenal job on her part, which is what I always worry about, crappy child actors. Even the music had me humming to myself all day! The lullaby is very catchy and I couldn't get it out of my head for a while. About the only problem I can see with the movie is the fact that it's subtitled. Of course, being a foreign film, it has to be. In my opinion it's better than dubbing the movie, because then you don't get the real experience and there's no way to know whether the voice actors dubbing the movie are good or not.

All in all, I believe that this was a fantastic film that deserves all the nominations it received. Even if foreign films aren't your thing, I think Pan's Labyrinth will change your perception of them. It will engross you in a mystical world that truly has the feel of a fairy tale, but the gothic aura of a twisted and dark story. I give Pan's Labyrinth a High Evolution factor for being a film in its own league and proving that not all fairy tales have a happy ending…

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