Pale Man makes this dream nightmarish

After getting sidetracked with a few commercial entries - Blade II and Hellboy - del Toro's sixth feature reignites his very own vivid imagination as explored in his earlier films.

With Franco-era Spain as a backdrop (a setting also used in The Devil's Backbone), we are quickly drawn into the Alice in Wonderland-like imagination of young Ofelia (played wonderfully by Ivana Baquero), who struggles in her new life with her ailing mother and cruel nationalist stepfather, whose only interests are the delivery of his unborn heir and terrorizing everyone around him. After arriving at the captain's outpost, Ofelia explores the labyrinth hidden deep in a gnarled tree. She's met by the ambiguous guardian faun Pan, who tells her she's the princess of this world and that she must finish three perilous tasks to fulfill her destiny.

Del Toro has proven himself a masterful visual storyteller; the film could almost be viewed as a picture book. Goya-influenced images aren't just for decoration, they tell the story. Beautiful and terrifying creatures are as incredibly designed as the world they inhabit - most notably the creepy, faceless Pale Man.

The elegant narrative is never weighed down with ideological constraints. Realism coexists with the fantastic, where imagination can be just as dangerous as the war outside, and equally inescapable. This ain't no Disneyland; this is how cinematic fables should be.

Pan's Labyrinth










 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

A Dark but Uplifting Movie that Exposes the True Nature of War Through the Eyes of a Small Girl     At the outset, I was attracted to this movie because the trailer seemed intense and very strange- and thus drew me in to watching the movie. However, after watching the movie, I would like to admit that I was very impressed with how the director was able to convey such abstract and intangible sentiments/feelings prevailing at the time of the Spanish Civil War through the eyes of a small girl. The movie constantly navigates through the war raging in 1944-Spain and its repercussions on the over-imaginative mind of a small girl. The mind of the girl consists of morbid characters that interplay in a fairy tale where she constantly translates the occurings of what she is confronted to into her dreams. The best feature of the movie is certainly the ending and how the director although ends the movie on a sad note, we can't help feeling happy and satisfied. Great work! Great imagination! Yet another superb feature is that the director uses real life characters and dresses them up to represent the morbid mood prevailing in Spain-1999 rather than sticking to technology and high-end graphics in this era of cinema making where tech seems to command the direction of the industry!!! He definitely proves his point!
Yamal Matabudul	{11 votes}	February 4th, 2007
Good but not Great     While the other donkeys may trip over themselves in their rush to praise this film, I would suggest that it is merely a good film. Objectively, it is certainly a visually lush piece of work and surely the most accomplished work of Guillermo Del Toro to date. Stunningly inventive as one would come to expect from the director and interesting in the allegories of the horrors of war and the questions of fantasy vis a vis reality. Certainly the two lead performances are uniformly excellent the problem lies in the simplicity of the narrative itself. Del Toro has a The Great Film in him yet but unfortunately this is not it. I know...as every critic has so inventively mentioned with great originality..it is an adult fairytale. An often vexing mishmash of historical footnoting, indulgent filmmaking(eg the silly and unnecessary scene with the colonel and the needle) and weaker performances(the feisty housemaid) let themselves to downgrading the effectiveness of the film. a good but not great film.
Reuven De Souza	{48 votes}	January 20th, 2007
Children of War     It's funny how you mention David Bowie, I couldn't help notice this might be similar to the "Labyrinth" made in 1986 while seeing the movie. Althought they are not in the same league at all. Pan's Labyrinth is not only better, it's something else. A mix of horror, fantasy and touching drama getting together. The picture is spectacular. Both the real and fantastic world are terrifics. Guillermo del Toro knitted them together with a masterful touch. I couldn't help thinking about Tim Burton too. I suspect those of you who like him will enjoy Pan's Labyrinth. I will certainly have a look at del Toro previous movie after I've seen Pan's Labyrinth. Ofelia is a great example of children of war. In the middle of Spain Civil War, she finds herself moving into a war camp with her pregnant mother. Asked to call an horrible man "dad" to please him. If young boy are programmed to participate in war when they are older and raised during a war, what can you really expect from a young girl? Certainly not to be anything else than a children. Eventually, when old enought, you could expect her to become a mother. Somehow I can't help but think that war is the playground of men and men alone at this point. It may be otherwise in five hundred years, but equal rights did not make soldiers of most women just yet.
Nicolas Gauthier	{26 votes}	January 19th, 2007
Let Down... Sadly...     I'd been waiting to see this movie since I first read about it in a magazine this summer. A great director telling a fairy tale for adults... it sounded incredible! Yet last night at the advance screening I found myself rather let down. Part of me wonders if I was simply expecting too much, but I don't think that's it. I just didn't like the movie all that much... and I actually feel bad that I didn't. Throughout the movie I kept being annoyed by this detail or that... Things like the sound for instance. Maybe it was just this one theatre, or perhaps my hearing was being overly sensitive for some reason, but I found the sound effects in this movie to be absolutely horrible. Everything makes far too much noise, like the captain's leather gloves... you could hear the leather stretching with every tiny movement of his hands. Add that to the literal roar of a fireplace, and the dozens of other tiny noises in the scene and I just felt overwhelmed. I did wonder if perhaps the emphasized sounds were somehow an artist choice used to balance the visuals, but I doubt it. As for the visuals... I wasn't impressed by them at all either sadly. The creatures (of which there are only really five I think) seemed rather mundane to me and had me thinking of video game creatures I'd seen before. From a giant toad (there are giant frogs in Resident Evil games) to the thing with its eyes in its hands (reminded me of Silent Hill) to the little fairy things that looked digital to my eyes, I can't say I was impressed at all. Even the explosions in the real world that are seen from a distance are rather obviously digitally created in my opinion. On top of all that I didn't find the characters that convincing, or the story all that great. Despite everything I've said I'm really not trying to bash the movie and insisting people don't go see it... I hope people do go to see it, and love it, as it seems everyone but me already has.
Sam Robertson	{15 votes}	January 18th, 2007
Film Review 101/Guillermo del Toro Restores His Indie Storyteller Cred     I've always maintained that the worst thing genuine film talent can ever do is go Hollywood because invariably the magical element that made said talent great in the first place gets lost in the shallow waters that Hollywood thrives on. Guillermo del Toro has done Hollywood movies but thankfully he hasn't lost sight of where he came from...as clearly evidenced by his outstanding work in 'Pan's Labyrith'. If you don't see this movie and fall in awe of the layered storytelling and lush visuals you just don't know good cinema. It's as simple as that. What makes 'Pan's Labyrith' so great, what elevates it above so much celluloid trash? Well, in much the same way John Sayles knew to ground 1994's 'The Secret of Roan Inish' in actual folklore and the spirit of the region where the story takes place Guillermo del Toro was wise enough to root his tale in the darker elements of fairy tales and the history of Spain. That gives the whole project a dual sharpness and he wisely knows when to reign in the more fantastical aspects so that you are in fact watching a drama with a whimsical and eerie ingredient and not some soft fary tale being propped up by a bit of history. The story is brilliant and obviously the effects and costumes are dead on but all of this would mean nothing if it wasn't for the actors fully commiting to the enterprise. Ivana Baquero's sublime turn as Ofelia will remind you that Dakota Fanning's days as the darling moppet of film are very numbered. A true bit of artistry worth watching again and again.
Pedro Eggers	{22 votes}	January 18th, 2007
Guillermo del Toro's Vision     Unbelievable flick,and to think I almost didn't go to see it. Ofelia is a young girl moving with her mother to a military outpost in the mountains of Spain in 1944. Her mother, Carmen, is married to an army Captain,and they're moving to be near him for the birth of their child. Ofelia's father was a tailor who died during the war. Upon arriving at the outpost,two things quickly become apparent. The Captain is a sadistic bastard and there is magic in the woods. Ofelia is awakened one night by a large insect who reveals himself to be a fairy. The fairy leads Ofelia through the old stone maze that exists behind the house and down the stairs. Awaiting her there is a Pan-like faun,who tells Ofelia that she is the reincarnated spirit of princess of the underworld. Before she can return to her magical kingdom however,she must perform three tasks to prove herself. The story of her magical quests builds up to an exciting climax. The original versions of many of the classic fairy tales were bloody or ended with someone's death. Disney has since cleaned up those old stories and given them all happily ever after endings that weren't there originally. Did you know,for instance,that the wicked step-sisters in Cinderalla both have their eyes pecked out by crows at the end? Or that one of them cut their big toe off in an attempt to fit into the glass slipper? This movie is like a fairy tale before Disney got a hold of it. It's bloody and violent and the happiness of its ending isn't guaranteed. Like those original tales this one is aimed at grown-ups. While the story is interesting and the acting is all first rate,it is the movie's visuals that truly make it stand out. The fantasy elements are beautiful and frightening at the same time and are unlike anything I've ever seen on film.
Luciano Santavicca	{10 votes}	January 18th, 2007
Imaginative......     I just watched this and it wasn't as great as i expected. I watched it because my friends kept telling me its amazing and creative. It was nice but ive seen much more imagination before. Its not really for kids because of "the captain" and his brutal murders. And the part where Ofelia goes out to finish the tasks in the woods can be safely watched by children. If your want something more creative than this watch any of Hayao Miyazaki's movies.
Yasmin Wadhai	{2 votes}	May 19th, 2007
Intriguing     I was very curious about this movie since I had no real idea what it was about before watching it, other than hearing the amazing reviews coming from all directions. And it turned out to be something very different and unique, and a pretty amazing experience. The level of gore/violence in this movie is exaggerated; it's there, but nothing worse than Sin City or Kill Bill. The film takes you into this dual layered world, where you can turn over a stone and enter a completely new fantasy land. You never knew what to expect, and it certainly stimulated the imagination. It kept you in suspense, you never quite knew what was real and what to trust. Definitely a must see movie.
Ruth Nissan	{1 vote}	May 7th, 2007
Grim Fairy Tale     Anyone expecting to watch a children's fairy in modern dress is in for a big surprise. Misleading and exaggerated advertising. The movie shifts back and forth from the brutalities and horrors of the Franco regime to the wondrous fairy tale. There are horrendous scenes of brutality that cause you to squirm, writhe, wiggle and twist. We get the point. Fast forward to the fairy tale, then back to the torture, return to scenes of agony, back to the fairy tale. We understand what the director is trying to prove, but it is that clear lack of focus that throws the viewer off track... or off his seat. Couldn't wait for the film to end and wonder why I did stay till the end. You could feel the tension in the theatre throughout the film. Where is Peter Pan now that we need him?
Victor Trahan		February 22nd, 2007
Original, but Annoying     I agree with Reuven de Suza, this film is inventive and suspenseful, but certainly not worthy of 6 Oscar nominations. While the visual effects are great, I find scenes such as the one involving the captain, housemaid and a knife, way too gratuitous and illogical (why doesn't she just stab him in the heart? - I guess because then, the violence would already have to end, and Del Toro certainly didn't want THAT!) The film could be called a good critique of war, if it didn't try to fascinate us with all its depictions of brutality. A foreign language film Oscar for this film would be highly unfair, seeing the brilliance of other nominees such as The Lives of Others. Let's hope that the Oscars will be fair this time...
Lisa Timmermann		February 12th, 2007
Adult Fairy Tale     Pan's Labyrinth is most easily described as a fairy tale for adults. I wouldn't recommend this movie for small children. Some scenes would give them nightmares for days. As a fan of horror movies, I am not easily scared and this movie had some scenes that had me twisting in my chair. The movie is absolutely beautiful, but very dark (both in terms of the story and the lighting). It depicts how harsh real life can be and how easily children can disappear into their own worlds. I will admit that the movie actually feels 2 hours long. For those who hate subtitles, they will not enjoy this movie as much, but as a subtitle purist, I'd rather read the story than change the original voices. The voices are perfectly suited for each character, and it would just remove you from the illusion of being in a fairy tale if they were changed. Overall, the movie was just stunning and was beautiful from start to finish. Pan's Labyrinth is an excellent movie and I recommend it to movie lovers everywhere.
Michael Montplaisir	{1 vote}	February 6th, 2007
Excellent!     This movie was and is excellent and it captured my heart and brought me back to my childhood love of fairy tales. The film quality was excellent and the actors were really really good. Mr. Toro did a paster piece with this one. He has great imagination and did a great job of putting it on film. Even for those who don't like reading subtitles it was great because the lines came slow and gave you plenty of time to read without fear you would miss something important. I would see this movie over and over again , it was great!
Maria Cecillia Silva		February 5th, 2007
Very Bleak, Very Well Done     First of all I must say that the movie was extremely well done, from an artistic/technical point of view (the only hitch - that took me "out" of the story for a sec - in my opinion was the cheap costume of the girl at the end, it made me think that I could have sown something better myself... not a big detail, but not something that I want to be thinking about during a movie).Then I have to confess that the sheer violence and cruelty of the story (the captain's, actually) took me by surprise. The movie spared us no hard detail, and drove the point relentlessly. I liked the unsuspected strength/failability of the female characters. The helpful cook/employee showed remarkable guts, and the little girl wasn't perfect (which is sometimes the case for heroines) and had faults as well as terrific inner strenght. But for all its artistic merit, the movie sure left us (my boyfriend and I) feeling rather depressed. What a bleak story! We were asking ourselves "Ok, what other depressing thing could we do tonight to "lift our spirits" some more? Visit the Holocaust Museum, perhaps?" This movie is definitely _not_ for kids (much, much too violent and graphic - and I'm not talking about the "fairy tale" parts, I mean the "normal people" bits). I wondered what was the targeted public for this (aside from artsy movie critics): it's much too violent/cruel for most women, and I'm guessing that guys probably aren't all that hot about movies focused on a little girl hero...? Definitely an original story, and extremely well done. But frankly, too bleak for me. Not something I'd recommend for a date or when you need something to get your mind off of daily hassles...
Geneviève Hunt	{4 votes}	January 25th, 2007
A Venture Deep into the Rabbit Hole ~     The beauty of this tale, is although we are thrown into a world mysterious and abstract.. the line between reality and imagination is blurred from beginning to end. Letting only the viewer decide the truth behind the whole mystery, a choice which may reflect in itself ones own views of the world. Does it matter what those around you perceive as true or false, or is it only your perception that will count.. will you fade away content in your fantasy world, or cold and afraid in societies box? these are some of the thoughts this powerful film can inspire within you, if you can believe that is ~ the world painted for us by Guillermo is one of vivid contrasts, blending harmoniously in a reality all too cruel, a reality which itself is sometimes so horrific it seems unbelievable.. yet still true - how then, is it so hard to believe this young girls parallel universe.. do we not all need something to hang on to when confronted with a reality too hard to bear? the only truth is this; open your eyes to this fantastic tale, one not always pleasant to see.. but necessary, there are morals lying deep within it - too precious to be forgotten, and all too important in todays fragile world ~ ~ ~
Philippe Mckie	{4 votes}	January 24th, 2007
Good film...     Pan`s Labyrinth is NOT for children. However, it`s a breathtaking beautiful film that is worth the price of admission. The little girl is both cute and scared at the same time(This does happen during the Spanish Civil War) and goes into a fantasy world. This movie is in Spanish with English subtitles. It`s also been nominated for best foreign language film so you know it`s something special. One time I actually agree with the critics.
Glen Power-Williams	{1 vote}	January 23rd, 2007
Pan's Oz!     Wow, Pan's Labryninth is one of the darker fairy-tales ever to grace the big-screen - The Grimm bros would be envious. Such hauntingly surreal and compelling imagery make this allegorical flick one of the most captivating and visceral flicks in recent memory. Kind of like The Wizard of Oz, only without the wide-eyed innocence and a million times more menace!
Mark St Pierre		January 23rd, 2007
Dont Expect Too Much     Last night, after much debate whether to see Alpha Dog or Pan's Labyrinth, my boyfriend and I decided to check out Pan's. We both were incredibly excited because the trailer had looked fantastic, and we both like outlandish quirky movies. However, we were slightly let down. Maybe we were expecting too much? The movie nearly did not have enough 'fairy tale' as I would have liked. Some of the magical world they showed was indeed fantastic, but then all too quickly they changed back to the war. The movie was terribly graphic, but thats not really the main point of the movie I would say. All in all, you should not expect too much, because I think the best parts of the movie were shown in the trailer.
Sabahat Naureen	{5 votes}	January 20th, 2007
Magic     I was one of the lucky winner of a pass to the premiere, and what a delight it was! As someone else said, this is a faerie tale for adults: A little bit gory at time, but at the same time, oh so fantastic. and you really get involved with the characters: You hate the captain and wish he would die a horrible death, and when Ofelia is about to do something that she shouldn't you want to scream the screen to warn her! The special effect are amazing, the creatures are well animated, sometimes gross, but so magical. Even the gory scenes are extremely well done. If you at least appreciate fantasy movies, even just a little, you should take time to go see Pan's Labyrinth.
Ephraim Dickstein	{4 votes}	January 19th, 2007
Fairytale World VS the Horror of the War     I saw yesterday, in preview released this film and I was blown away by the performance of the actors and the way the story was laid just before our eyes. The Fantastic part of the story is there to help us try to understand the horror of the civil war that is going on in the film. Once again Del Toro brings us in his world of strange creatures and evil mind man with a touch of a young innocent girl that dream of a fairytale world. The fairytale world help the young girl to cope with the fact that her step father is mad man army guy and the hard time that she has with the lost of a father and sickness of her mother. You have to see this movie.
Louise Guertin	{2 votes}	January 19th, 2007
I'll Have Too Catch It Later     The movie had quite a buzz behind it. On some Top Ten lists for 2006, among them one of the Gazette's reviewers. So the freebie I got looked liked a hot ticket. But I had to help the kid with homework and it was my spouse who got the chance to go. Hot ticket it surely was. They'd distributed way too many double passes for the size of the screening room and many last-minute arrivants were offered tickets to The Queen, Arthur and the Invisibles, or Miss Potter in compensation. But my friend had redeemed it early, so she thought she was sitting down to a great experience. Unfortunately, she was disappointed. She found it way too bloody and senseless. Seems they dwell a lot on the cruel fascists and their persecution of the Republican guerrillas, and not enough on young Ofelia's magical alternative world. So the real monsters are the flesh and blood ones while the fantastic freaky creatures are the ones who show some measure of nobility and humanity. So what else is new?
Francisco Uribe	{1 vote}	January 18th, 2007
Fantasy With Real Life Lessons     In this day and age, children need to see movies that will scare them a little, real life is not a Disney movie and as the times change we need more Del Toro's telling stories that reflects beauty in the world but not guarantee a perfect ending, at least not one where you don't face your fears.
Amrew Weekes	{1 vote}	January 18th, 2007
Very Good Movie     I saw this movie a few months ago, and I thought it was absolutely amazing. The whole movie was fascinating. The movie starts off nice and slowly with a mother, who is on the road with her daughter going to visit her new husband, a captain of the Spanish army. While she is pregnant, she's having a lot of problems of her own. She's sick and demands that her daughter stays with her and respects her new father. The father, played by Sergi Lopez, plays an evil captain of the 2nd World War and has absolutely no pity for anyone. He is ruthless, mean, and selfish. All he wants from his wife, is her baby. Nothing more. He wants the baby to grow to be just like himself. The daughter, on the other side, doesn't really like her new dad and doesn't trust him either. One day, while on the road to go visit her new dad, they stopped the car because the mother felt sick and the daughter went for a little walk in the forest. She found a rock on the floor with the form of an eye and placed it on a boulder that had a hole next to the other rock-formed eye. She places the rock inside, and a strange fairy came out. The adventure starts, and the little girl, Ofelia, is finally brought to her senses that she might have been a princess in the past. Beautiful haunting story, well-paced, wonderfully acted, great direction by Del Toro and amazing cinematography, this movie is a winner.
Alan Aspri	{3 votes}	January 18th, 2007
Too Scared     The name of the movie sounds awfully good, however, one look at the movie poster and a glimpse of the trailer, I was too scared to actually go see the movie. Movies that involve any type of mental play is really out of the question for me, because unlike horror movies that you get over after steping out of the movie theatre or a day or two, movies that play on the mental mind tends to linger and creep me out for a longer period of time. Not only that but it causes me to think about the possibilities and to think that it might just happen for real.
Melissa Yu	{1 vote}	January 18th, 2007
No Comment     Never sell the skin of the bear before you kill it. This old saying apply perfectly to me. Last Thursday , i was very happy since I got a free pass for the pan s labyrinth playing at amc 22 movie theater. The movie was scheduled at 7:00 PM , I was there at 6:20 PM but unfortunately can t watch the movie because it sounded like it was sold out. Maybe the next time , I will be in to watch a movie.
Hafid Bouguena	{3 votes}	January 21st, 2007
A New Adventure, A New Movie     I think this movie IS indeed a storybook for adults, but its in a movie form. And since nowadays, there aren't much movies for adults, I guess this would be a movie they would go watch, other than seeing Happy Feet (not that its a bad movie...) or something rather kid-ish. So the movie is about a child who is always being yelled at, punished, and other things a parent does for a reason but in this movie, the parents DON'T (I hope after the parents see that movie, they don't start punishing me for nothing) have a reason and so, one day, she goes into a hidden tree and finds the labyrinth and also finds a creature called Pan. There, he tells the little child how she is a princess and how she must do three task to complete her destiny and so, a new adventure starts and a new movie starts too.
Lisa Truong	{2 votes}	January 20th, 2007

Write your comment! please follow these guidelines

Information requested in blue will remain confidential   [privacy policy] Please indicate your real first and last names.

First name :

Last name :

Your email :

Confirm your email :

Title of your comment (max. 150 characters)   Your comment (max. 2000 characters)  characters remaining       LIMIT PER PERSON : one comment per article per member. Thank you. Your comment will be read by our approval team and, if it is approved, will be posted on the website within 24 hours. It could also be published, along with your name, in the printed version of Hour magazine and on any of our partner websites. In order to present the highest quality of comments, Hour reserves the right to refuse certain submissions. Any plagiarism will entail the entire removal of the member’s profile. Hour is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the members.