A-Maze-ing

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2006)

I'm not sure why it's called Pan's Labyrinth in the English translation because I'm fairly sure that the Faun never refers to himself by name or is referred to by name throughout the running time but the real mystery surrounding Del Toro's fantasy is why is engages in the cinema, stays with you afterwards but still leaves you cold.
Its certainly not for want of creative energy. This is a rich and unusual enterprise, occasionally hauntingly beautiful, a bit like the corpse of a stunning 20 year old who's died from electrocution and lies tantalisingly inert on the mortician's slab. Obsentisably its a Spanish civil war drama with a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust, horrific in its real world setting, baroque and artistic in Ofelia's fantasy realm. But Pan's Labyrinth has problems beneath its carefully layered visuals. The two halves marry successfully but to no real end. The opening scenes promise a more substantial payoff but instead its a fascinating but ultimately hollow piece about childhood escapism. That the fantasy is real as the narrative suggests hardly matters in the end as its had such a negligible impact on the non-magical world.
Alluring, well made and often captivating, you should see it, just know that the real magic is that you won't notice the lack of dramatic integrity until its all over...but you will notice.