Magnificent and beautiful movie making.

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2007)

"Suffer the little children at the hand's of evil men".
Ofelia's love of fairy tales is obvious from the beginning of Mexican born Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 movie El Laberinto del fauno. Set in the not so tranquil woodlands during the Spanish Civil War of July 17th 1936 to April 1st 1939 , where a small but dedicated band of anti-fascism rebels are hiding out, this is where Ofelia and her pregnant mother have come to live, in the company of Capitán Vidal, Ofelia's new stepfather and soon to be father of her half-brother. It is with the brutal, unforgiving and totalitarian idealist Capitán Vidal, and his fascist troops, who must weed out these resistance fighters 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.
El Laberinto del fauno is intertwined with several stories, and each carrying their own with sufficient character and strength for the movie not to warrant sub-plots. The delivery of these plots are well matched and paced to lift El Laberinto del fauno into the realms of a magnificent story of love, death, bravery and fairy tale magic.
It is in the eyes of young Ofelia that we see her world around her becoming more intriguing with each passing day, her journey into the labyrinth and the cold reality around her pushing her deeper and deeper into a world of innocence.
Then, it is in this contradiction as to why El Laberinto del fauno works its own magic so well, El Laberinto del fauno is a dark and evil place to reside, not only the twisted and tangled roots and branches of Ofelia's newfound world, but also, the perils of war. The darker side of human nature is shown without pity or remorse, death is always close by, and for the eyes of a child, only dreams can overpower the nightmares of this horrific, often graphic and extremely uncompromising grown-up world.
Sometimes tense, sometimes sentimental, sometimes astounding but always magnificent in the delicate handling's of this young child's world, this too is the world of how we deal with war and those who suffer it, literally.
With beautiful set designs, imaginative artwork and crafted edits and a story that holds no compassion for War, El Laberinto del fauno is a charming period piece that goes far beyond the dreams of a child. El Laberinto del fauno is also, at best, a reminder of how, as human beings, we can become so narrow minded in our beliefs that we forget to remind ourselves that this world is more than just ideas and hidden agendas but that we must transcend ourselves into a higher plain of understanding, tolerance and respect for one another. It is this philosophy that makes us different from the rest, as human beings we have always had this right to choose.