Pan's Labyrinth
I had been looking forward to seeing Pan’s Labyrinth for quite a while. Even though I wasn’t a big fan of Hellboy, I really like The Devil’s Backbone. That movie was just a great little ghost story that you don’t really see anymore. With everything going the way of The Grudge I had hopes that Guillermo Del Toro would show me something that might help cleanse the pallet and he didn’t disappoint. If he keeps on this trajectory, mixing Hollywood comic book movies with these wonderfully imaginative stories, then he’ll quickly become one of my favorite directors. There just simply isn’t anyone else with the same vision doing what he does out there.
Ofelia (Ivana Banquero) has traveled to the Spanish countryside with her mother to live her mother’s new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Vidal is leading his troops in quelling what’s left of a dying resistance in rural Spain. Ofelia wanders into a labyrinth where she meets a creature that tells her she is a lost princess, but has to complete three tasks to prove her identity. Seeing this as the only way for her and her brother to escape the violence of her everyday life she sets upon her tasks.
Sergi Lopez is one of the best villains I’ve seen in a long time. He’s just as cold and sharp as the razor he shaves with and kills completely without mercy. When I think evil fascist I think this guy. He is everything a wicked step-father should be. If you had any confusion about whether or not this is a kid’s movie, Captain Vidal will allay you of them very quickly. He earns this film’s “R” rating all on his own and in the first ten minutes.
It’s simply amazing how well this film works on multiple levels. First, you have this emotional historical drama, where revolutionaries are fighting a fascist government and families are torn apart in the process. Then on the other had you have this fairy tale where a little girl finds out she’s a princess and must complete a set of Herculean tasks to claim her crown and save her and her infant brother. It’s simply beautiful. It’s the blending of these two seemingly separate stories that is really where Del Toro shows his genius. For all the terrifying monsters that she has to face, the most danger comes from her real life. The scariest creature of them all is her new father.
This is an incredibly impressive film just to look at. If it was just a history lesson with all the fantasy elements taken out, you would still think that it was a fine looking film. Fortunately for us, there is more. The mix of live action and CGI is sort of the icing on the cake. The design of each character and setting are beautiful, bizarre and in some cases horrifying. If the Pale Man doesn’t make your skin crawl at least a little, well, then you’re just lying.
I know some audiences aren’t going to be in for a Spanish language fantasy film, but you’re going to like this film. Pan’s Labyrinth has everything you’re going to want in a movie. Any fan of action, fantasy or horror is doing themselves a serious injustice if they don’t check it out. I had a couple people walk out of the theater I was in after realizing that there were subtitles, by the end I felt sorry for them, because they skipped a little reading and saw Norbit instead. That’s just stupid.
The Grade
- Story: A+
- Acting: A
- Visuals: A+
- Originality: A
- Enjoyability: A+
- Overall: A+
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