Gratuitous violence/setting, dull characters detract from story

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2007)

Pan's Labyrinth is particularly graphic it its violence - surely gratuitous- having a repulsive affect. Viewing people being shot different ways and multiple times or tortured for the sake of show is not entertainment. Neither is the sadism and the brutality of one of the main characters - a Captain in the Spanish military. However the backdrop (yes backdrop) story or fairy tale is well depicted and conceived and twisted in an almost Burton-like way. One of the lead fairy tale creatures is a definite rip-off from "The Cat's Eye" troll (with Drew Barrymore), but that's OK. Too bad the setting/war completely ruins any wonder or art related to the fairytale. The fairytale itself lifts the movie as best it can, but with so much senselessness and a boring lead character with little charm coming off a little dull, the movie suffers. Keeping the fairytale as a base and some rework could've done justice. It ultimately and sadly is lost on the potential the fairytale cant reach.