It come down to..... "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2014)

We have layers of ideas here in multiple stories... a girls fighting against hope gets a chance for a better life in the kingdom she belongs, but the mythology that is required to follow falls short of being worthy. It's creepy in its' imaginary monsters and scary in its real fascist war monsters. Of course, they are one in the same in reality, just evil that can not be satiated. We have the actual story of rebels making a last stand while hiding in the woods. That story seems made for TV with small scope productions,black and white characters, dialog made for dummies (I mean, what person who is deathly concerned for a sibling greets him by saying "Brother"?) Director and writer Guillermodel Torro took on too much and it shows. The way the Captain turns on his pregnant wife right in front of the daughter is just too deliberate, so that we would know how little El Capitan thought of her. The rebel mole, played by the chief woman on the compound, gives her speech about getting away with what she did because she was invisible to him? C'Mon... is this Telemundo TV? The lack of real fear and amazement in the little girl is understandable but detracts from a suspension of disbelief. Then there is the story of the "worthy soul", life after death, and deliverance of the princess to the King by the Faun. If the soul was worthy, why need to prove herself? Our narrator, as he explains almost everything related to the mythology, The Faun, is sometimes looking like the hind legs of the creature and at others, he seems to just be standing awkwardly. Again, Guiermo, I'm paying attention! Don't treat me like a kid who won't figure it out. This is not a kids' movie in any way shape or form. I'd like to think that you think more of your projected audience.So did I really hate this? Not at all, but so much potential was wasted in so many areas that it's hard to watch more than a few times.