Enchanting, magical, captivating and yet brutal and intense

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2007)

Guillermo Del Toro has never been a director who has overly impressed me. However, I think Pan's Labryinth could well be his career defining film - his masterpiece! From what I have read, it seems that this is a film closest to his heart, and he deserves considerable praise for bringing it to the big screen in such spectacular fashion.
There is not one actor in this film who gives a bad performance, and special mention must go to young Ivana Baquero, who in a difficult role gives a brilliant performance.
This film is not however a children's film, nor is it a fairy tale in the classical sense of the term. It is a brutal look at the revolutionary Spain during the rule of Franco, mixed with a beautiful fairytale. It could be suggested that this film is somewhat misleading, in that most advertisement of it gives the impression of a magical world, but what is good about this film, is it's very real and believable feel.
The film contains many awesome creatures some scary some not, but what is perhaps most interesting is the fact that it is the human characters who are perhaps most scary. In particular Captain Vidal, played perfectly by Sergei Lopez. He is far scarier than the white man of the magical world. Firstly, because he is real, and secondly because he is not far from being a madman, and yet so calm with it. There is something about silent simmering anger that is so scary!
Also, the film looks beautiful, the Labyrinth itself looks fantastic, as does the underworld, and all the creatures are designed perfectly, but in a way that they could well be evil or good.
This film will not be for everyone, and some may even be put off by the subtitles, though I beg you not to let this get in the way. This film is not for children, it is brutal, and there are some horrific scenes. As the trailer suggests, it is a fairy tale for adults. 8/10