Dark & Sad, but not Great!

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2007)

Laberinto del Fauno, El: A DArk Fairy Tale!!!
Spain 1944, A young girl(Ivana Baquero) escape the cruelty of War and Life by Living in a Fantasy world of her own.
I enjoy the movie very much. But there's some problems with the script.
We don't see enough Ofelia in the film, especially in the real world, instead we focus too much on the Fascist Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez): we know he's a bad guy, it's just a little bit too much for the length of the film. So... the film should have been longer... also (Editing problems for the release in theaters???).
There're inconsistencies in the story line. Lots of Contradictions in the film, ex: Ofelia used chalk and it's found by the General...??? Some of the situations are possible, but not realistic, ex: Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) and the Captain confrontation...??? Some of the violence shown: not justified.
The beginning of the film reminds me of Spirited Away of Miyazaki...
The Fantasy world is Sublime. The creatures are amazing & well created, i loved Faun (Doug Jones) and is duality: Good or Evil? Brilliant!! The performances by all the actors are Excellent, Great Casting and Direction! The Music grip your heart and play with it very well. The Cinematography is good. The CG are well done and blend with the environment and the monsters. The Message intentions are more than honorable, but too much errors prevent the film to be Great or a Masterpiece.
Well done Guillermo Del Toro!!!
P.S.: You should also watch "The Devil's Backbone" from Del Toro
Yann