A film that stands out visual as a tremendous achievement on par with The Prestige, yet lacks the plot to match up any further.

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2007)

7-7.5 out of 10
I'll begin with the films most appealing portions, namely that it was beautifully shot, a technical master piece, casting was very strong and I thought the violence was well placed, although it could've been more sever. However the plot was a tremendous let down as I failed to find much meaning in it, after the film I was able to rationalize a few themes in the movie, yet they didn't seem to fit the actual film as well as they did the plot. The themes I felt that fit the plot were a critique of martyrdom, a fatal sense of self-created existence, and an analysis of trust. First the most prominent theme, at least in my eyes, that being the critique on martyrdom; I almost thought that theme was well portrayed as we find our heroine dying to save her little brother, and only being to accept this due to an imagined world. Thus illustrating that the only situation in which martyrdom is not only acceptable but even reasonable is when one has created one's self an imaginary world into which to retreat.
Next we examine another aspect of her world, not so much it's qualities as a safe haven, but rather the dangers the world brings to reality. Ofelia's world often lets her escape the brutality of her world, yet it does nothing short of sabotaging her attempts to live, putting her at odds with both her mother and captain Vidal, first incurring her mother's disappointment at having not only been late but also having ruined her beautiful new dress, and later drawing the captain's wrath at having stolen his son. This world puts her life in danger numerous times and could be expanded to be understood as an attack on self delusion, furthermore this film shows how crippling self delusion can be to those around one as we see Mercedes completely destroyed over Ofelia's self inflicted death.
Finally the commentary on trust, here two Ofelia's death is the ultimate statement and we see her mistrust of an imaginary being resulting in her unfortunate demise which seems to be directly attached with the idea that trust of beings that seem more qualified can often be faulty lest those being prove themselves trust worthy.
Now I won't deny that the main villain, captain Vidal, is a total bamf, and he is a great villain however this creates a false image of the Franco regime as he is the clear bad guy and the rebels are clearly good, when in reality both sides were terrible. Franco's regime was a repulsive time in history, yet Franco was able to miraculously keep Spain out of WWII a truly overwhelming accomplishment, and his adversaries were equally as radical but to the other extreme, these communists were of the same brand that Orwell fought and that took control of Russia, a set of tyrannical beasts who valued no life and based their actions only the false notion that men were equal. Now the idea of equality is nice for kids but falls terribly short of reality, but that is for another argument, in Spain the reds were terribly authoritarian and were as, if not more, sadistic than Franco's fascists. In summary, gorgeous film that was very well shot and produced, yet the theme lacked any exceptional characteristics, i.e. cool to own but not really worth rating exceptionally highly.