Massively overrated.

Rating: 4/10 (8 January 2008)

While the idea of contrasting a dark fairy tale with a dark political story of rebellion is quite ingenious, the film ends up being extremely empty and drags far too often. As strong as the performances are the lack of any kind of depth in the mother character results in a lack of sympathy for Ofelia because we never really understand what she's doing all of this for, though I did get teary at the end. The fact that Captain Vidal has absolutely no positive qualities is utterly ridiculous since no one is that sadistic and terrible (even Anton Chigurh showed signs of sympathy) and made the more realistic parts of the story seem that much more unbelievable. The strength of the performances and the jaw-dropping technical aspects can't entirely save a film when it feels so hollow. The ending did manage to bring quite a smile to my face, though.