Pan's Labyrinth Review

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2007)

Pan's Labyrinth is a fairy tale story for adults that centers on a young girls escape from reality, that reality being fascism in civil war-torn Spain circa 1944. Guillermo Del Toro's newest picture brings us adults back to the place fantasies like The Never Ending Story did when we were children. The sheer darkness and violence of the fantasy segments perfectly complement the blood and torture portrayed during the war scenes. Ofelia, not being able to grasp what is going on around her, escapes into a world of faun's and fairies which at times are scarier than the real villain of the film, Captain Vidal played with by venerated Spanish actor Sergi Lopez. The real praise, when it comes to performance, must be handed to Maribel Verdu who's fear and inspiration for freedom are truly envisioned through her eyes. Del Toro does use many transitions in the film that lend to a one-shot impression, by using trees and walls to cut from one angle to another, something Hitchcock used to make Rope look like one unbroken shot. These transitions lend greatly to the stories two parallel universes, making them equally real to me as the two came closer and closer to intersecting. Ofelia's world of imagination is filled with over-sized frogs, bugs and various creatures made from the earth, that crawl in and out of the film seamlessly, complementing the editing.
Pan's Labyrinth, written and directed by Del Toro, is a very personal film, and helps cement Del Toro as one of the better filmmakers within the science-fiction fantasy genre. Like the title suggests, Pan's Labyrinth creates a very intricate, elaborate maze, using its two stories to switch paths as you get lost within Del Toro's alluringly perceptive direction. Del Toro's use of CGI is very minimal, but mixed with the make-up effects conjures a very memorable, time-standing world of fantasy. This is, without a doubt one of the most beautiful films of the year, and along with its aesthetic sensibility, Pan's Labyrinth has painted a perfect anti-fascist story.