Unfulfilled Potential.

Rating: 7/10 (28 August 2017)

My Spanish teacher showed this in class, and it was at least more enjoyable than school. That makes it sound like I hated it, but I didn't. There was a lot of talent from multiple people displayed here as well as some good creative vision, but it just wasn't tied together well enough. It felt like somebody made a cake with some high-quality ingredients, but then nobody blended them.
The concept of having Ofelia escape the unfriendly world that she is forced into through a fantasy world is good and interesting. As a kid who was into books, I was always hoping that some fantastic adventure would save me from my own dissatisfaction with reality. It made sense that Ofelia might imagine a fantasy world, if you want to interpret it that way. While I was watching it, I assumed that the fantasy world was real and didn't consider that it might be her imagination until reading it in another person's review. I think the reason I made that assumption was because I expected the two worlds to be connected somehow, but they aren't. This is an area where I got dissatisfied with the story. It's really two separate stories happening at the same time. They don't connect to each other in any meaningful way, but instead just happen side by side. Both of them were interesting and had some good scenes, but they didn't play off of each other enough IMO.
The characters were also pretty good, but dissatisfying. Captain Vidal was quickly and effectively established as an unsavory person, but his unsavory actions felt believable and consistent. I don't think he has any strong beliefs that drive him to act the way he does, but he doesn't seem to feel regret or moral compunction for them either. Mercedes and the band of rebels are touched upon infrequently, and there are some good scenes and drama that arise from their conflict with the military unit stationed nearby. Ofelia doesn't have much development, but it's easy to put yourself in her shoes as she grapples with the challenges that arise in both of the worlds she is involved in. I thought more could have been done with the Faun. He didn't quite fit with the rest of the movie in the way that he hides the truth from Ofelia.
Finally, the theme of courageous disobedience was inconsistent. I agree with the idea that we should not have our convictions shaken by what punishment may come of it, but it was another thing that I didn't even think of as central to the movie until I read it in a review. I don't want to write the movie off, because there were some solid scenes in it along with good writing and production design and acting. But now looking back at it, I'm left thinking "so what?" Overall Rating: 7.1/10.