A beautiful film but unnecessarily violent

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2010)

PAN'S LABYRINTH is probably a film which does not exactly fits into a fantasy genre. Perhaps it is a more kind of a parallel between the reality and fantasy, and thats what makes it one of a kind film.
Hats off to the director/writer Guillermo del Toro for a very different writing. The plot is something which is not seen before. The screenplay of the film is very beautifully crafted and very well written. The characterization of different characters in the film is also very detailed and deep.
The story basically follows a young girl named Ofelia who lives in the fascist regime of Spain. Ofelia is fascinated by fairy tales, and perhaps lives in her own fantasy world and very far from reality. She and her mother move to the house of her new step-father, ruthless sadistic Spanish Captain Vidal. After that she is taken to a labyrinth by a creature who is known as a fairy, and Ofelia meets a faun who told her that she is a princess of an underground realm, and to reach that world she needs to perform three dangerous tasks to prove her purity. I won't go into further details, but the film is just not what mentioned above. It is something much more metaphorical and symbolic.
In terms of acting, young Ivana Baquero is unmatched. She has done an excellent job playing a lonely child lost in fairy tales. Apart from Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez has also done a great job in portraying sadistic Captain Vidal. His expressions are merciless and fierce. All the other cast, honorable mention of Maribel Verdú (as Mercides) and Doug Jones (as Faun), are just great.
The film has top notch production values - breath-taking cinematography by Guillermo Navarro, beautiful sets by Eugenio Caballero and lingering music of Javier Navarette. Guillermo Del Toro's direction is very mature as well.
Only one thing that bugs me about the film is that the film is gratuitously violence and bloody. I don't know why, but the same thing could've shown in PG-13 levels. The violence in the film makes the film too 'uncinematic'. The film is also pretty misleading as a children fantasy, in fact it is very graphically violent. Also, the film goes a pretty too mechanical near the end, and the climax of the film could have been more emotional.
Apart from these two things, the film is very good in all sections of film-making. It is a very sad tale as well, and leaves you pretty disturbed. Definitely a must watch, but with a caution of graphic violence.
8.0/10