Visually Stunning and Emotionally Charged. One of the Best Foreign Films I've Ever Seen

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2007)

One of the most-hyped foreign features this year was Guillermo Del Toro's 'Pan's Labrynith'. Set in the late 1800s in the middle of the Spanish Civil War, the story follows a young distraught girl by the name of Ofeilia. After the untimely death of her father and pregnancy of her mother, Ofelia goes with her mother to live with The Captain, an indescribably cruel, cold and calculating Captain of the Spanish army. Because of stress related to the move and her mother's pregnancy, Ofelia creates a fantasy world in her mind which has her believe to be an immortal princess separated from her real father at birth who lives in the secret underground world which houses a large variety of immortal fairy tale creatures. The most prominent of these creatures is Faun, a tall wide-eyed monster, who looks like the illegitimate love child of a tree and one of the aliens from the movie 'Signs'. Faun gives her difficult three tasks to complete, in order for her to be accepted into the supernatural underground realm she was supposedly spawned from. During the course of the movie Ophelia must complete these tasks and survive her harsh reality with her sadistic abusive step-father, the Captain.
I was expecting a lot of out 'Pan's Labrynith' due to all of the positive feedback I heard from both critics and my friends alike, and I was completely satisfied. I can't stress how rare it is these days to find an 'original' movie, and it doesn't get any more original than Guillermo Del Toro's 'Pan's Labrynith'. Sure, there have been fairy-tales and fables before, but none as dark and painfully realistic as this one, while at the same time being so sweet and sentimental. The story is familiar to other fairy tale movies, but it's virtually impossible to predict the twists and turns the film takes. Guillermo Del Toro was awarded an Academy Award Nomination for his phenomenal screenplay, and for good reason -- the story moves quickly and the dialogue is always believable unlike most screenplays belonging to films of the same genre. 'Pan's' screenplay is excellent, but the direction is even better. Del Toro's direction is simply put, masterful, and I find it hard to believe he was snubbed for a Best Director Oscar nod this year.
One of the less noticeable aspects of this film is the acting, which is not to say it's not good, in fact it's quite impressive. Ivana Baquero gives a powerful and spot-on performance as Ofelia, that deserves more recognition than it is getting. She is the lead of the film, and it's hard for a 13-year-old girl to carry an entire movie, but she pulls it off and very effectively if I may add. Sergi Lopez is perfectly evil in his part as the Captain, and everyone else is solid especially Y Tu Mama Tambien's Maribel Verdu, who is spectacular as the Captains head maid, Mercedes. The only real shortcoming of this film is everything it leaves unsolved in the end. Don't get me wrong, I loved what I saw, but I wanted more. There were some holes in the story, and not everything was made clear. This really bothered me, but not enough to dismiss the film as one of the most enjoyable movie-going experiences I had all year. Visually, 'Pan's Labrynith' is perhaps the most magnificent motion picture of the year and it deserves Oscars in some of it's technical categories like makeup and art direction (set design).
In conclusion, I highly recommend this heart-wrenching and thrilling fairy tale, but not for kids. At first, I thought this was a kids movie, but believe me, IT'S NOT. If you love your young ones, do not take them to see this movie! Not only is it "terrifying", but it contains some unbelievably graphic violence, most of which involves what the notorious "Captain" does to people who displease him. As far as fairy tales go though, it sure as hell is better than 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. Grade: A-