Absolutely magnificent. My favourite film ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2008)

Pan's Labyrinth This film in my opinion is the greatest film ever created. From a critical perspective this film is almost absolutely flawless. In ever aspect the film successfully gives the audience everything it could possible deem necessary. And may I add it was robbed of an Oscar!!!!! I could watch this beautiful artwork to the end of time and I would never ever become bored of it.
Every single thing I could possible list which makes a perfect film, is present in this masterpiece. The plot is excellent and original, and focuses on a young girl's quest to reveal her true identity in the midst of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. The plot is as I said just before original and is well written and paced and gets to the point in each scene. All the scenes in the film serve a purpose and not one of them is used as a filler to rack up a few extra minutes, which is a rarity in almost all films. Aside from having a flawless plot the characters in the film are well developed and distinguished from one another. Each character is rather unique and contributes a substantial amount to the story. The performances were excellent, despite the fact that these actors were relatively unknown outside Spain I felt happy in seeing them give wonderful and at times inspiring performances. Aside from acting the evil characters (Vidal and his officers) are accurately and successfully portrayed so that they portray the dark of the world where as other characters such as Mercedes and Ofelia provides the light of world. This essentially gives the film the perfect contrast that separates evil and good. It is such as shame that the film was criticized by many people on the basis that no character had a shade of grey. These people are completely ignorant as this was the entire purpose of the film- to show that there can be good in evil.
It is not only the characters that portray this contrast the plot does as well. The plot blends a violent reality with a beautiful and perfect fantasy world that the main character: Ofelia longs to be a part of. This type of filming will be very unique and intriguing to a large amount of audiences. The plot manages very well in keeping audiences engaged until the bitter end, which I must say is the most powerful and beautiful thing I have ever scene displayed on the big screen.
Another positive aspect of this film is the setting. And I must say the sets and cinematography are absolutely outstanding, some of the best I have ever scene. For example the scene early on in the film in which Ofelia confronts a faun (not a baby deer, the fantasy creature) the camera-work in it was absolutely outstanding. If I were to see such fantastic sets in real life I would say they were real. This outstanding cinematography is accompanied by outstanding makeup and magnificent visuals.
As with the sets, the fantasy creatures looked extremely realistic. One character the pale man, had astonishing make up that he looked like something out of a nightmare. The monster essentially looks like a man, but has pale white skin, very thin legs and eyes in his palms!!! This character was designed and executed with an excellent amount of care and skill.
The only thing I can possibly think of that is negative is the length. At around two hours I felt the film was a little too short. Although I am sure others can find criticism I simply cannot provide any other fault this masterpiece.
Summing up I would recommend this film for anyone. Whether they love or hate fantasy. However this film does contain some graphic violence, torture and emotion intensity that may disturb some viewers. I personally would not show this to a child below 13 years of age. Summing up this beautiful film receives a 9.8/10 for me. The highest rating I have every given a film. And one of the 6 films I have every given a 10, the others being; "The Godfather Part 1", "The Godfather Part 2" and finally the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.