Clever, Dark, Witty, Emphatic.

Rating: 8/10 (3 October 2010)

Guillermo del Toro's fantasy spin on fascist Spain during 1944 was met with great critical acclaim. winning 3 Oscars, and nominated for 58 other awards.
This 2006 fantasy film opened the worlds eyes to the mind of a young girl, and makes the viewer question their own. the young girl (Ofelia) is engulfed in a world of fairy-tales all captivated by the amount and genres of books that she reads. she embarks on a journey with her mother to live with her new step-dad who is the captain of the Spanish army. as the film starts, we (the audience) instantly notice that Ofelia's mother is heavily pregnant. It later on becomes apparent that the stepfather is a very evil man, content on having a son born to lead Spain's army, and does not care about Ofelia's mother and especially not Ofelia herself.
I feel that the demographic for the film is teenagers of around 16-20. although I feel that this film can be enjoyed by anyone over the age of 16, as some scenes (notably the "pale-man" sequence may be disturbing for a younger audience)
The sound in the film is very good, in particular the sound effects, when Ofelia is crawling through a boggy tree, the sound effects we are presented with are tub-thumping.
the mise-en-scene throughout the film are mainly the characters and the house that Ofelia lives in.
In conclusion, I believe that Pan's Labyrinth is an extremely good film, that can be enjoyed by all. I gave this film an 8 out of 10, I feel that although I found it very enjoyable, i felt the end was slightly predictable as it did not run in chronological order so the audience never had many surprises throughout the film, this does not make the film bad in anyway, it just doesn't make it a 10. I would defiantly recommender this film to a friend.