Beautiful production, underwhelming story...

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2007)

In 1944 Spain, as the Spanish Resistance is losing to the Fascist army, a pre-teen bookworm named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother come to stay with the girl's new stepfather, an icy army captain. While stopping for a break on their initial journey, the youngster fits the missing piece of a statue into its proper place; this unleashes a magical winged creature who leads the girl to the pale faun, a gargoyle-like guru who helps Ofelia understand she possesses the spirit of the Princess Moanna and will live eternal...that is, until she completes three heady tasks before the next full moon! Spanish-language fantasy begins well, combining elements of Grimm and 'Alice in Wonderland' with the modern, grotesque look of a Björk music video, but the elements of the story are hazy rather than coherent (if Ofelia hadn't put back the missing piece, would she still have Moanna's spirit?). Baquero is sublime as the child, but every segue from her to the evil captain halts the movie's momentum, and the incidentals (the captain's party, Ofelia ruining her new dress, the assistant sneaking medicine) aren't compelling. A film which bides its time between an incredible fantasy world and the harsh realities of the day is ultimately going to come up short (we can't wait for the preliminaries to be over with so that the real story can progress); despite a smoothly efficient direction and an able cast, "Pan's Labyrinth" simply feels too slight, too undemanding to garner status as a fantasy-classic. ** from ****