Pan's Labyrinth

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2007)

Pan's Labyrinth is a Mexican film in Spanish with English subtitles. The film is set in the 1940's in Spain and is about a young girl named Ofelia who comes with her mother to live with her evil stepfather who is an army general during the end of World War 2. To escape the sadness and evil around her, Ofelia discovers a labyrinth in the back of the house and meets a creature who resembles a faun who tells her that she is a princess and must complete several tasks to come back to her kingdom. Ofelia does these tasks and is taken away into strange new worlds and are introduced to several unique creatures. In the real world Ofelia's mother is pregnant and with her evil and overbearing stepfather things are getting a lot worse and seeing as the film is set in the mid 40's during a fascist Spain there is a lot of violence and evil going on around her and sometimes in order to escape that Ofelia will have to go back inside the imaginary world to complete her tasks in order to be somewhere safer even though danger lurks in the fantasy worlds as well. Winner of over 22 awards so far, Pan's Labyrinth has good direction, a good script, good performances by the entire cast, good original music, good cinematography, good film editing, good production design and good makeup. Before I state what I liked about the film I would like to get the fact that although this is a fantasy film and looks like it would be great for children that it is probably not suitable for them receiving an R rating in the states for graphic violence and language, so parents please be advised. Getting that out of the way I must say that I really enjoyed this film. When Ofelia is in the fantasy worlds they are full of beauty and are gorgeous looking and at the same time they are often wonderfully grotesque and weird, so the look and effects of this film are fantastic. The imagination behind writer/director Guillermo del Toro is amazing and he has created a wonderful blend of fantasy and real life horror that balances out well and plays perfectly. When in the real world everything is dark, dreary and depressing looking, but while in the fantasy land everything is usually bright and more cheerful. This film plays out like a perfect fairy tale with dark elements, a hero, a villain and lots of weird stuff in between to keep us amazed and to capture our interest. The film is very dark, but anyone who has read fairy tales will be able to tell you that most of them are and it suit's the film and it's style very well. This is a gorgeous looking, creative, interesting and very well done film that is one of the best films of the year and I'm glad there is finally a fantasy film out there for adults to enjoy. I really enjoy fantasy films, but the majority of the recent stuff out there like Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter isn't really my style, so I'm happy to say that this film certainly filled the bill and I was very impressed by the end of it. For those who are into fantasy and don't mind that the film is dark then you are in for a great story and a wonderful world of surprise that the filmmaker captures for you. I hope this film continues to do well and I hope the fact that it is subtitled does not hold people back from seeing it because it really is an amazing film and meant to be seen.