Best Movie of 2006!

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2007)

Determined to see a proper Guillermo Del Toro movies I was quite excited when I heard about Pan' Labyrinth. A movie completely in Spanish, a movie full of intricate fantasy monsters while being set within the Spanish Civil War. It was a movie never designed for mass crowds to watch it, but rather for people to slowly discover it and admire it. So as I walked into the cinema late last Sunday I was really excited, mainly because I wanted to see whether it would live up to expectations, and whether I could see the beauty of the movie. Now two days after seeing it I have decided to write my review on it, you see it has taken me two days of thinking about it for me to truly appreciate just how amazing the movie is. Pan's Labyrinth goes way beyond being the movie of 2006 within the first hour, what was originally in my mind going to be a nice fantasy movie turned into an epic tale about family, friendship, bravery, inner-demons and the evil that people face. This is a movie that is the closest to perfection I have seen in a long, long time. Previous years have seen movies I perceived as great such as Shaun of the Dead, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Neverland, Sin City and others. Pan's Labyrinth manages to top all of them for sheer inventiveness, sheer creativity, sheer beauty and sheer amazingness. It is difficult to write a review on this movie as it really can be interpreted in so many ways, the story is a grown up fairy tale, trust me kids will go screaming out the cinema if they see this movie. Its a movie that deals more with the fascism occurring in the real world than with the horrific monsters in the fantasy world. Its a clever and inventive way to do a movie like this and ultimately the largest risk that Guillermo Del Toro has taken for this movie as well/ Thankfully it pays off perfectly as it gives enough character development for us to genuinely care for the characters and enough time with the fantasy creatures for us to appreciate the beauty of the movie.
This movie features a bizarre little plot and to be honest how it was actually laid out in the movie was nothing like I expected. For starters the actual fantasy sections of the movie barely take up a quarter of the film. In a two hour movie there's actually very little of the monsters and bizarre fantasy things going on. Instead the plot decides to remain rooted firmly in reality, we instead see the impact of Vidal's actions on other people. How Ofelia is terrified for her mothers life, how Mercedes despised feeding the man who is trying to kill her brother. The characters really do make the movie what it is and every single cast member plays their part to absolute perfection. The fantasy sections are of course the highlights in my eyes, the site of the Pale Man just sitting at the table is enough to send shivers down your spine. When he starts moving you'll be horrified! Ofelia is a superb character and we always follow her story with genuine sympathy for the character. Had her character have not been believable then this movie could quite easily have fell flat on its face, but even in the fantasy scenes she is pitch perfect. Her character showing a large array of emotions and not the simple gormless look that Daniel Radcliffe puts in every single Harry Potter movie! Yet despite all my praise for her, she is still not the stand out cast member. No in my eyes the biggest star in this movie is Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Lopez really makes a monster out a character that could have been extremely two dimensional. The villain is easily the best character in the movie, every single scene he steals. He only has to utter a few words to send a shiver down your spine. His standout scene is where he declares to a victim he is about to torture that he can go free if he counts to three. The trouble is the man stutters and if he stutters then the torture begins. Its one of the tensest moments of the year and Vidal really proves to be the most menacing villain for a long time in that scene. The other two cast members worthy of mentioning are the brilliant Maribel Verdu as Mercedes and the even better Doug Jones as both the Pale Man and Pan.
Pan's Labyrinth is one of the best movie in years, certainly the best movie of 2006, certainly better than half the Hollywood rubbish in ages. No faults to speak of whatsoever!