A Brilliant Coming-of-Age Fantasy

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2007)

It's been known for awhile that somewhere in the good directing skills of Guillermo del Toro there has been a great director just waiting to spring out. With his latest film, del Toro proves he has that rare great directing spark. Pan's Labyrinth is a brilliantly directed film that excites, amazes, and terrifies, shining with impressive performances, a captivating storyline, and dazzling special effects that are refreshingly lacking in CGI.
The film takes place near the end of World War II in Europe, in a war-torn Spain, where our main character, young Ofelia, lives with her mother who is pregnant with a son and is to be wed to the leader of a battalion of the Spanish army. The film opens with a brief fairy tale explaining how an underground kingdom's princess reached the surface and forgot about where she came from, living out her life and eventually dying. Ever since then, the legend goes, the kingdom has been waiting for her return. After this little backstory we see Ofelia, obsessed with reading fairy tales, and her mother traveling to the outpost in the woods, where Captain Vidal awaits his new bride.
Pan's Labyrinth involves fewer fairy tale elements than you would think. The trailers present it as this epic fantasy adventure, but most of the action actually takes place in the "real world." We are shown this war-torn, horrible world through little Ofelia's eyes, revealing it as ruthless and terrifying, clearly a world that a child should not be forced to experience, but Ofelia must face it every single day, and her only escape is the world of Pan's Labyrinth.
Pan's Labyrinth raises some very interesting questions, and it doesn't do them sloppily. This is a very cleanly directed film, with a clear and intent purpose  it doesn't bounce all over the place raising questions for the heck of it; everything is clean and to the point, and there is barely a second of wasted space. More than anything, it is one of the most beautiful coming-of-age tales I have seen in a long while. This entire movie is about Ofelia, growing up, the loss of innocence, and this process is captivated ingeniously by telling it through the medium of dark fantasy. By no means is this a kids' fairy tale story. It is unrestrictedly violent  del Toro does not hesitate in showing us a man get killed by having a bottle neck smashed into his face repeatedly. He doesn't do it so much that it desensitizes, but he gives us just enough gore to place us squarely in Ofelia's world. Ofelia must wrestle with this world in which she lives, and even the fantasy that she creates (doesn't create?) for herself is dark and mysterious and foreboding. The film also seems to be a kind of eulogy for childhood innocence, an acknowledgment that it must end, but also a recognition of how truly fantastic it can be. Ofelia's imagination and wonder hold a solid power in this world, a power that can truly be felt even by those in the world who do not believe it.
Ofelia's imagination and the fantasy world that she escapes to is also creatively and captivatingly shown through some impressive special effects work. Aside from some little "fairies" that show up from time to time, the film is virtually devoid of CGI, making it so much more real. Not only this, but the creatures created are ingeniously original and frighteningly creepy (not the least of whom is the terrifying Pale Man). When a special effects team still has the power to come up with a grotesquely beautiful image or to scare without cheap thrills or useless gore, you know they're good. And the very real lack of "fake" monsters or backgrounds only makes Ofelia's world that much more engrossing.
Pan's Labyrinth is truly a great fantasy masterpiece. Del Toro, with his usual dazzling vision, carefully crafts and completely keeps the essence of this dark world from the first frame to the last. It's difficult to even necessarily find anything wrong with the film. The acting is superb all around, especially from the actress who plays Ofelia. Some people may find the violence to be too extreme for their taste, but I found that it was an extremely effective way of portraying the world in which Ofelia lives. Another criticism could be that there is not enough of the fantasy element, but this only, to me, showed how overpowering and all encompassing the war-torn world was. It's what Ofelia lives in, and it is an entirely appropriate decision considering that we are seeing things from her perspective. Ofelia's lack of incredulity is also another strength of the movie  she is a young child, nearly a teenager, true enough, but what young child in her situation would not believe the incredible things that she sees? She needs to believe them; it's her only escape. Its only fault may be that it drags at parts, but even that is negligible considering the sheer awesomeness of the rest of the film.
Pan's Labyrinth is not a perfect film. It does not carry the import of a cautionary tale, such as Children of Men, or the brilliantly dazzling acting of Helen Mirren in The Queen (which I haven't seen). It does contain extreme violence, which will turn some people off. Others may find the fantasy element difficult to grasp or understand. What Pan's Labyrinth does so intelligently is to perfectly capture the world in which it exists. This is an intensely amazing world that del Toro is wrestling with, and the fact that he pulled off portraying it picture perfect should be applauded. Everything that del Toro attempts succeeds with flying colors. This movie is a prime example of expert film-making at its peak.