Visual feast for the eyes

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2007)

If there is one thing I can guarantee with this review it's that you will not see another movie like Pan's Labyrinth the rest of the year. In English or in Spanish.
With its dark imagines, brutal violence and terrifying fantasy creatures, I challenge you to find a film on par with Guillermo del Toro's vision of a young girl in Spain circa 1944 who endures the growing pains of a new family while imagining a world where creatures that would give Stephen King nightmares surround her and coax her into various tasks of passage.
Pan's Labyrinth is a movie almost too complex to explain. There are two tributaries of plot. One involves the real world where Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother travel to their new home amidst the violence of the Post-war Fascist repression. While adapting to new father whose penchant for sadism is wiggle-in-your-theatre-seat cruel, young Ofelia takes comfort in her mother's arms. But when her mother has complications with her pregnancy, Ofelia quickly finds retreat with the unusual characters including nymphs and fairies that lead her on three tasks that suggest the offer of reclaiming a throne.
The second story surrounds this journey into fantasy and I have yet to find the words two hours after the screening to describe the various characters that include a huge toad with a secret key hidden inside its belly and a creature that eats young children and has eyes on the palm of its hands.
Creepy stuff. Think Big Fish is written by Clive Barker.
Writer and director Guillermo del Toro (The Devil's Backbone, Hellboy) spins a whimsical story that is as engrossing as it is repulsive. The war scenes are brutally realistic with bullets not being spared for the long suffering, and a torture scene that includes utensils marked for your father's toolbox gave me the heebie jeebies a la Hostel. Guillermo is able to walk a thin line with confidence and with this entry, he secures his spot as one of the most interesting directors working in the mainstream today.
Pan's Labyrinth received a 22 minute ovation when appearing at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. I can't in good conscious share the same enthusiasm. But on the other hand I can't deny that this was an incredible spectacle that definitely deserves multiple viewings to fully appreciate the beauty amongst the violence and the creativity of the storytelling among the dark corners where creatures lurk and adventures await.
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