Beautiful, magical, fantastic. A fantasy movie for the more mature audience

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2007)

To be honest, I wasn't very interested in seeing this movie. The trailer was OK, but it still didn't wake up my interest. But, as so many people had praised this film more then enough and it had a rating of 8.5 at IMDb putting it at the 45th place at the Top 250 Movies of all time -list I just knew I had to see it to know what it's really like. It couldn't be that bad, now could it? Well, all the people buzzing about this film were pretty much right. It is indeed an amazing film. I just don't know where to start. The movie is mixed with history, drama and fantasy, and that pretty much makes it so unique in its own genre, as there aren't really movies like this one. When I first heard about the movie I thought it was a happy family movie for children, but then I heard it's really a film for the more mature audience. I was very surprised how violent the movie actually was and how dramatic a fantasy movie can really be. It can also be compared to thriller -movies as there really is some very exciting parts in it too. It's just really hard to describe it more specifically as I don't want to give away any spoilers.
The story's just brilliant. My interest surely kept on throughout the whole movie, as it just is so exciting. There are actually two plots in this movie, one based on the historical events and the another one based on the fantasy world, and though it may seem that they don't connect together at first, they really do and the way they connect together is just intelligent. Screenplay's also fantastic in its wholeness and it is written by the same man who has directed the movie, Guillermo del Toro. I've seen a couple of his movies before and I must admit that all of them have been very disappointing, but this time the man just totally goes over himself. The movie progresses forward in a very flowing way without any pointless scenes or useless parts. Just fantastic. What comes to role performances this movie doesn't include any phenomenal ones, but everyone does their job flawlessly. There are actually two actors above everyone else which I want to mention. The young actress who plays Ofelia, named Ivana Baquero, who is pretty perfect for the role and a man named Sergi López, who does an excellent job in playing a villain. A perfect villain indeed.
The fantasy world and all things connected to it are very well made and the movie just looks so good. It's no wonder the movie won the Oscars from the categories of Art Direction and Make-Up, the whole art department deserves a huge plus for making something look so good. The world is magical, dark and scary, and also surprising. You simply can not know what's coming around the next corner, you just sit there staring at the screen and wondering how everything just simply look so beautiful. There's not enough compliments to make when it comes to the art. A job amazingly done indeed.
One thing that is also so great in this movie is the cinematography. The whole movie is shot in a beautiful way, both in the real world and the fantasy world. Again, the movie did get its third Oscar from the cinematography and it is no wonder. All the angles, how the camera moves showing you the world and squeezing a little bit more of that excitement for you is just brilliant. A well deserved Academy Award. The music is also a spot on; Though it's not meant to be a beautiful composition or to make you cry, it really does its job. It gives the movie more of that dark edge it needs, making it slightly more magical and giving the movie that extra something. It's used in the right places and it has enough variations, so it's not repetitive or it isn't used in a corny way to dramatize any situations. It just fits like a key to a treasure chest.
Even if you're not a fan of the fantasy, just turn off your "surreal-alert" and enjoy a damn good movie. It will amaze you a scene after a scene. Enjoy a beautiful story, a perfect villain, amazing cinematography, fantastic art direction and a great movie. Just watch it and you will see yourself that the people praising this film were actually right. Great.