Excellent movie

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2007)

It's more than a fairytale, or, maybe, the European way of making fairy tales. It's a fantasy story for grown-ups and a drama for children. You might find it scary here and there, but it sticks to reality at the same time. 1944's Spain was not the best place to live happily or to raise your children. However, despite the fights, Ofelia found a way to survive through fantasy. Or maybe fantasy rescued her from a cruel destiny, and could have saved her mother as well if only she would have kept a bit of her child's innocence. The movie proves that Europeans can make their own fantasy movies and that happy ends do not make necessarily a good movie. The end is up to us, or to the child in us - because in real life it is unbearable to accept such death of a innocent and yet brave "princess".