Potential for Greatness

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2007)

This movie, while clearly very good, suffers a few faults. Too much time time is spent in Civil-War era Spain, and not enough in the magical world that may or may not be in Ofelia's head. Though not a fault, this movie is brutally violent. This movie seems like a good one for kids, until you see some of the shocking brutality committed by Captain Vidal, scenes with some very violent torture sequences, especially one where he smashes in a man's face with a bottle, and then shoots a man standing next to him. The scenes with violence are extremely well done, and take all the small details into account. Particularly two scenes accentuate this, one where Captain Vidal has his cheek cut open and sows it up by hand. Afterwards, he takes a drink, and it leaks through the newly-created hole in his cheek. Also, at the end, when Captain Vidal is shot right below the right eye, his eye rolls back, while the other eye stays focused. This movie should win several Oscars for the technical prowess displayed, but some of the plot should have been changed, which would have made this movie great.