Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Movie Review

Del Toro makes amazing children's movies for grown-ups (see The Devil's Backbone); this spellbinding story parallels a young girl's fantastical odyssey with the grim realities of war.

In rebel-filled 1944 Spain, Ofelia (Baquero) travels with her mother (Gil) to an isolated hideout, where her stern stepfather (López) captains a military outpost, searching the woods for insurgents. With her mother heavily pregnant, Ofelia explores the surroundings, discovering an ancient stone labyrinth. Inside she encounters the creepy faun Pan (Jones), who tells her she's a long-lost princess and can regain her throne if she accomplishes three dangerous tasks. Meanwhile, she realises that her stepfather's housekeeper Mercedes (Verdú) is helping the rebels.

The dual story threads merge seamlessly in del Toro's elegant style--with warm, lamp-lit colours, deeply shaded characters and a forest whistling with restless leaves. It's a Grimm's fairy tale version of Alice in Wonderland, and it hardly matters whether Ofelia is really having magical experiences or if she's found a particularly useful escape mechanism when she needs it most.

Guillermo Navarro's cinematography is sumptuous and inviting. And the images are edited with a liquidity that invites us into even the scariest sequences, from the military grisliness to a massive, mud-dwelling frog or an eyeless man (Jones again) at a delicious-looking banquet. This is all the stuff of childhood imagination, except that the war isn't actually a game.

Baquero has a remarkable ability to fully capture her character's inner life as she explores unexpected places, tells her unborn brother imaginative tales and finds solace and trustworthiness only with her mother and Mercedes. Both Gil and Verdú are excellent, as is López in a rare hard-edged role.

This definitely isn't a movie for young children. The violence and terror sometimes feel over-the-top, with bugs, guns, needles and a gut-churning beating. But perhaps this shock of authenticity is important, as it highlights the fact that no matter how freaky the underworld gets, it's never as horrific as real life can be. And as the story moves toward it's heart-stopping climax, what the film has to say about imagination and fantasy becomes achingly resonant.