Marvelous movie in which a bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into a creepy but captivating fantasy world and finds a strange Pan

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2013)

Set in the not so tranquil Spanish woodlands of aftermath Spanish Civil War , where a small band of anti-fascism rebels are hiding out. Ofelia's love of fairy tales is obvious from the beginning of The Pan's labyrinth . When a widow marries an authoritarian Francoist captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), her daughter goes to a countryside mansion . This is where Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) have come to live, in the company of the violent , brutal Capitán , Ofelia's new stepfather and soon to be father of her half-brother. The captain and his troops must fight Republican guerrillas of the hills and woods, that Ofelia finds her release and distraction of the new world order and its warring factions and delves into the older, mysterious and enchanting world of fairies , faun's and giant frogs . Ofelia becomes friend of the servant Mercedes (magnificent Maribel Verdu), who is the sister of one of the rebels and actually is giving support to the bunch . Ofelia takes refuge in a labyrinth , she finds in the grounds of his home, and in reveries involving Pan (Doug Jones, it took five hours to get into The Pale Man costume , once he was in it, he had to look out the nose holes to see where he was going) , who set three tasks she must overcome to take place as princess of a magical kingdom and in order to obtain immortality according to the legend . Meantime , resistance fighters plot their strategies in the nearest forest battling fascist troops .
This is a gorgeous , charming , graphic and deadly fairy tale . An exceptional picture for its inventive visuals , imagination and fantasy ; inspired partly by Goya's ¨Black Paintings¨ , including fantastic sequences parallel the reality . Sensational acting by Sergi Lopez as a cruel , unforgiving and totalitarian idealist Capitán Vidal . Versatile Sergi steals the spectacle as the monstrously sadistic officer bringing real menace to what might have been an absurd caricature . Wonderful and imaginative visual effects by DDT and magnificent special effects by Reyes Abades . The faun's legs were not computer-generated , Guillermo del Toro created a special system in which the actor's legs puppeteer the faun's fake ones , the actor's legs were later digitally removed . Impressive production design by Eugenio Caballero and rousing set design by Pilar Revuelta . The ruined town seen during the opening sequence of the film is the old town of Belchite Zaragoza, in Aragón, which was also used by Terry Gilliam for ¨Adventures barón Munchausen¨, the town was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War and never rebuilt. Sensitive as well as imaginative musical score by Javier Navarrete . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Guillermo Navarro , Del Toro's usual .
The motion picture was splendidly directed by Guillermo del Toro who even gave up his entire salary , including back-end points, to see this film become realized . In 2007, this film became one of the few fantasy films ever nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars . The film was hailed by critics and audiences alike, and del Toro decided to give Hollywood another try . Its fantastic assurance confirms Del Toro as one of contemporary cinema's most rewarding purveyors of fantasy such as demonstrated in his first big break ¨Cronos¨, and followed by ¨Hellboy¨, ¨Blade II¨ , ¨Mimic¨ ,¨The devil's backbone¨ and many others .