Review of Pan's Labyrinth (2006) by Rafael N — 30 Jan 2015

I put off watching this film for a long time. I am so glad that I finally watched it. Honestly, if I'd known what I was missing out on, I would have watched it a long time ago. .

Pan's Labyrinth begins with a strange, confronting scene as blood bactracks through a small girl's nose as she lies on the ground. We are then told of an ancient fairy tale, in which a princess escapes from her underground kingdom to the world above where he dies, leaving her spirit to return in a different form at a later time. .

In another story strand, we find Ofelia, the young girl who we saw bleeding at the beginning on her way to see her stepfather. It is towards the end of the Spanish civil war. .

These two scenarios, though polar opposites, somehow go side by side perfectly as we follow the dastardly gentleman Captain Vidal and his seemingly-delusional step-daughter. .

At first it seems that the film will be about the Captain and his effect on Ofelia. That's up until we meet the faun. The introduction of Pan takes the whole film to an entirely new level, combining an incredibly beautiful fantasy world with an almost as darkly beautiful soldier's camp. The art direction is amazing. Whether it's Pan's inverted knees and knotted shoulders or a gigantic toad or intensely gruesome moments of violence, it's incredible. The intense detail is astounding as well, especially in one outstanding sequence with an extremely disturbing creature known as the pale man. The table of food practically glistens while the walls are covered in beautifully vile images of his escapades. .

The script is great too. We experience just how wrapped up in her fantasies Ofelia is and just how cold Captain Vidal can be, as well as just how desparate Carmen is. The delivery by the actors is nothing short of brilliant, with standout performances by Sergi Lopez as Vidal and Doug Jones as Pan and the Pale Man. Jones' performance is especially powerful delivering scolding speeches with incredible power. Del Toro also coaxes an incredible performance from his diminutive lead, Ivana Baquero. She brings an authenticity to a role which could have easily been made into a caricature with the whole wide eyes and high voice routine. A lot of credit for that goes to the script which doesn't treat its child star like a child. .

The score is a beautiful, with the constant of a Spanish lullaby which helps to purport the difficulty in sorting the reality from fantasy. .

Del Toro's work in this film is something to be praised, seeing as the Hellboy's weren't really anything to be in awe of. But he creates his own style in this film, with seamless transtitions from one shot to the next and beautifully choreographed camera movement. .

Pan's Labyrinth is a brilliant film with frightening intensity and a truly original take upon fantasy as well as bringing a feeling of danger in the face of the fantasy, much akin to Where the Wild Things Are. With a brilliant ending which causes a collision with fantasy and reality as well as causing a crazy headspin to the viewers, Pan's Labyrinth is definitely worth watching multiple times. .

Defining Scene: .

Three words. The Pale Man. You may need a change of underwear handy.