Pan's Labyrinth: The Fairy Tale of the Decade

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2007)

Yes, this movie is a fairy tale. Yes, it deals with fairies, fauns, and ogres, with magic spell books and princesses. No, this movie is not at all for children nor those who dislike major violence.
Labyrinth takes place in Spain in 1944s, during a time of Spanish civil war. A ruthless Captain (Sergi López), has set up camp in a distant forest, and requests that his pregnant step-wife (Ariadna Gil) and her fantasy-obsessed daughter, Ofelia (brilliantly played by Ivana Baquero) join him there. As she tries to adjust to the country life smack dab in the middle of the battlefield, Ofelia runs into a magical fairy who leads her to a mystical labyrinth, where she meets a mysterious and suspicious faun, Pan (wonderfully played by Doug Jones), who tells her that she is the long-lost princess of an underground kingdom, and that she must complete three dangerous tasks to return to her throne.
While the movie closely follows Ofelia's tasks, spoken to her by a magic book from Pan, it is mostly about the war, double agents (Maribel Verdú and Álex Angulo), and the Captain's near-obsession with his expected son. The battles are extremely brutal (starting early with a couple of rabbit hunters) and made me queazy a couple of times. So brutal are these deaths, in fact, that you'll be relieved to see a simple shot to the head or back.
The acting is top-notch, and young Ivana Baquero has a huge and brilliant future ahead of her (picture Dakota Fanning, only a better actress and less annoying). The animation is phenomenal, but not nearly as breathtaking as the costumes or scenery. The labyrinth itself just sucks all the breath out of you when you see it at night for the first time. The "pale man" (also played by Doug Jones), is by far the most terrifying creature in the movie, most-likely to give even the most mature and grown-up adults shivers.
Yes, this movie does have sub-titles (it's in Spanish), but it's hardly noticeable at first, so much so that you forget about them by the tragic end of the movie.
This movie is frightening and sad to the extreme, but it also gives you a sense of hope that magic does, in fact, exist. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time and truly the fairy tale of the decade!