This is not Alice In Wonderland. This is a disturbing, violent and adult film

Rating: 10/10 (5 December 2009)

If I was to say "This is about a young girl who has a vivid imagination in a Spanish civil war era and the whole film is in Spanish" you would say that you don't want to see it. Thankfully I can Say that it is much,much deeper than that.
The acting is brilliant Ivana Baquero is great as the lead Ofelia and bring a very inquisitive character to the story and someone who accepts their life and is quite an inspiration to us all. Sergi Lopez plays CapitainVidal Ofelia's stepfather and a cold hearted man who is using Ofelia's mum (To have a son) as a way of coping with his pain and he brings a hating, yet somehow a sympathetic, character. Finally Doug James is (the only American actor on the set and also he speaks no Spanish at all!) Pan/Pale Man. He terrifies you with by acting 2 horrible looking, sounding and moving creatures.
Basically Pan's Labyrinth is about a young girl who is drawn into this magical and maniacal world where dark and terrifying creatures roam. She meets a Faun called Pan who challenges her with 3 tasks to complete and in return he will tell her a secret about who she really is (Clichéd I know). Her struggle also lies in helping her mother through a painful birth whilst her stepfather attacks a group of communists.
This film is not for children in fact I could think of a few adults who would turn their faces from the screen. The violence is extreme (and 18/X rated if I say so myself) and the whole feel of the film is graphically disturbing I might add. At points the film makes you feel sick, especially when Ofelia is trudging through Cockroach infested slime to reach a gigantic Toad which flicks it's disgusting slimy tongue at her, or when Pale Man (A man with his eyes on his hands instead of his face) chases her. It's moments like that which make this film something a lot different than Alice In Wonderland or a War film for that matter.
If you want to see this film but think not because of it being in Spanish and subtitled in English watch it anyway because I guarantee that this film will be nowhere near as good in English and that's why director Guillermo Del Toro denied requests for Hollywood producers to make it with him.
Go see it because it is a fantastically brutal, dark, moving and disturbing fantasy film. Thank ya