Pan's Labyrinth [HD DVD] by New Line Home Entertainment by Guillermo Del Toro

This film is in Spanish. It has subtitles. It's not for kids. It's appalling looking through the 'reviews' on here to find the amount of 1 star reviews for people that complain they didn't know it was in Spanish, or they didn't know they'd have to read subtitles. Some guy gives it 1 star because he played the directors commentary instead of the correct audio track and had to contend with "some guy talking all over the top of it." Lots of 1 star reviews from people who sat down to watch it with their kids too. Amuse yourself, have a browse through them.This film is an outstanding work, with a multi-layered plot that fuses the grim everyday life of a young girl with a mystical place she can escape to. Very very good stuff.

From Guillermo Del Toro.Set in Fascist Spain during the second World War, Franco is in power and The Resistance is trying to make life hard.When Ofelia's Mother marries Captain Vidal and gets pregnant with his Son, they have to move to the Country to be near him. When they are arriving and Ofelia's Mother tells her to ask the Driver to stop because she is feeling sick, Ofelia finds a rock in the road, realises it comes from a Statue nearby she put it back thus setting in motion a chain of events that will lead Ofelia on a dangerous course.When they arrive at the Mill the Captain tells Ofelia it is the other hand that you put out to shake.....from that moment on Ofelia hates Capt. Vidal.Mercedes the Housekeeper has a Brother in the Resistance and the Dr., who is employed by Vidal, is also sympathetic to their cause.Pan's Labyrinth is the best film I have seen in ages. The SFX are incredible particularly Pan who is made to look so real that you can nearly imagine he is. The Fairies are well done too.This is one of the best films I have ever seen. I have played this many times but I never noticed that in Carmens room the headboard features a Faun.

This is *not* a family-friendly children's movie. It was originally rated 15 in the UK, and contains both physical violence and some seriously creepy, dark, fantasy imagery. It is weird and powerful, and explores many uncomfortable themes of isolation and exploitation, civil war, fascism, and the how evil rises to a position of power in almost any situation.Alongside all that, the story explores how a lonely little girl might actually be a missing princess from an underground faerie kingdom. She is set a series of trials by the faun in the labyrinth... but little in this film is as it seems.The visuals are gorgeous (but might so easily provoke nightmares), and the performances extremely powerful.Personally, I prefer it to 'The Shape of Water', which covers much of the same ground but in a more accessible 'Hollywood' style.This is raw and unsettling and odd, and all the better for it.Dialogue is in Spanish, with English subtitles.8/10

Pre-adolescent Ofelia is a wide-eyed wanderer who immerses herself in a world of books. Along with her heavily pregnant mum, she is propelled to an unfamiliar lifestyle into living with her stepdad in the midst of Franco-era Spain, Ofelia lives in a world of fantasy to avoid facing the stark grittiness of real life.One day at night she is led into a labyrinth, wherein she meets a faun who promises to make her a princess if she can carry out three tasks. Sounds simple, no? Well, not if the tasks involve placing stones in a giant toad’s stomach and evading the terrifying Pale Man…Ofelia’s stepdad, El Capitan, is a cruel sadist with very little consideration for anything apart from getting things done his way, and producing an heir (seeing his wife as little other as a womb for his son to grow in). In one unforgettable scene, he attacks two rabbit poachers (who he imagines to be trespassers) in the most brutal and disturbing way imaginable, only to discover that they were indeed hunting rabbits. He’s no nonsense, no morality, no soul, and he is feared by all around him.However, there are those who are brave enough to rebel, albeit quietly and behind his back. Mercedes, his servant, is secretly supplying food and ointments to the rebelling soldiers, and the town doctor is doing the best he can to keep the sinking hoard alive. But one feels that El Capitan, with his bullish resolve, is a force to be reckoned with, and any things going on behind his back, he'll seen catch on.Meanwhile, Ofelia is pursuing her adventure in her quest to become princess. What starts out as exciting and whimsical for her, soon escalates into something much, much darker. The Toad tasks was scary and a bit gross, and Ofelia gets into trouble because she ruins her new dress. But that is nothing compared to her second task, where she must steal a dagger from the chambers of the Pale Man, an eyeless, boney monster that sits still, until food from his chamber is consumed. When he doesn’t sit still, he’s out for the kill. And finally, she must use the dagger as the faun tells her to, in the biggest challenge, and sacrifice, of them all.Pan’s Labyrinth is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There are elements of war movie scattered about, with the grainy battle scenes and focus on the casualties of war. It is also a fairy tale; a twisted one at that, but a fairy tell, about a girl and her quest. And then there’s the drama, with the dark story of a girl who suspects she is losing her mother to a pregnancy that isn’t good for her, and her being left, alone, in a place she hates and a stepdad she hates more.The two worlds of real and imagery come together the ingenious art direction of Eugenio Cabellero, and Guillermo Navarro's lush cinematography. The musical score by Javier Navarrete is also excellent in how it uses the theme of a hummed lullaby and presents this theme in many different forms – aided with a thick orchestral palatte – to modulate the tone from daydream, to nightmare, and back again.And Guillermo del Toro, who won Best Director and Best Film at last year's Oscars (with the vastly inferior THE SHAPE OF WATER), who knows how to direct a fantasy like no-one you’ve ever seen ties everything together masterfully, expertly paralleling Ofelia's own terrible reality with an equally terrifying and terrible fantasy.And, of course, there’s the cast. Sergi López has created one of the most despised villains of all time. I personally feel that his character in Dirty Pretty Things was even more despicable, but El Capitan certainly comes close. The audience feels a heavy sense of grim satisfaction when he finally gets his comeuppance.Maribel Verdu also gives a good supporting turn, as the put-upon servant who loathes her employer, but has to live everyday without showing it.But the film absolutely belongs to Barça-born Ivana Baquero, whose big eyes and dulcet Spanish tones carry the film. As Ofelia, she is smart but slightly naïve, tough externally but fragile inside, and, through her endless reading, has become eternally curious about the world around her. In entering the fantasy world, she encounters creatures and events that are as horrifying as those in the world she is trying so hard to escape.But most of all, she is a good, kind, person. Ofelia’s bravery and dedication to her task put her through some appalling ordeals, and in the end, I wanted her to succeed and find redemption more than anything else in the world.