Guillermo del Toro brings us a wonderful fairy tale so excessively violent and powerful that you'd better leave the kids at home. In a small countryside encampment in war-ravaged Spain, circa 1944, a young girl and her pregnant mother arrive to live with a sadistic, cold-blooded army Captain.
Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is sad that her mother married the evil Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), and refuses to call him father. She knows her mother (Ariadna Gil) is pregnant, and wants nothing but the best for her new "brother."
So when Ofelia blindly follows a bug she calls a fairy into a dark labyrinth in the woods, she is thrust into a world where she is a lost Princess and a magic, talking, half man half faun is trying to save her.
Ofelia, with the help of a magic book, must perform three tasks in order to return to her immortal life as a Princess in a land where there are no lies or pain.
Set against a backdrop of a small battle with guerrilla fighters, the brutal violence of Captain Vidal is nothing short of gut wrenching and is juxtaposed with the fantasy elements that Ofelia encounters. The horrors of war, the brutality exhibited by Captain Vidal are all too real to Ofelia, which is why she again readily believes the Faun when he tells her that she is a princess. This is probably the film's only downfall.
The Brutally violent reality is meshed well with visually stunning fantasy to create a film unlike anything in recent memory. Combined with terrific and haunting performances from the lead cast, Pan's Labyrinth is a lock for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and hopefully a host of others, too.
Is the movie worth your time to watch?
9.5/10 19-02-07
