My Review of 'Pan's Labryinth'

First released in December 2006, Guillmero Del Toro's Pan's Labryinth is a very interesting film and particular great example of World Cinema. The film is set in 1944 during the Spanish Civil War in Spain, where Ofelia (the film's protaganist) has moved into a remote town along with her pregnent Mother, in the company of Ofelia's Stepfather a ruthless military commander. However all the while this is occuring Ofelia is told by a Faun(the kind of creature she fantasises about)that she is a reincarnation of a princess/Queen of a magical kingdom, where the Faun comes from. However in order for this to happen, Ofelia has to perform three tasks, which result her in encountering several other magical and bizzare creatures such as a Gaint Toad and the Faceless Man, as well as crossing paths with her cruel facist Stepfather.

The film does a wonderful job of juxtiposition in the narrative, with the harsh and gritty reality of the Civil War contrasting with Ofelia's surreal adventure, of which as Children we've dreamt about. This in fact reflects Del Toro's childhood, escaping particular unpleasentries in life through his fasinaction in fairytales and monsters. The film is very enjoyable (depending if you have preferences to subtitles or not), with there being several memorable scenes such as the gruesome toture scenes with the Stepfather, Ofelia's encounter with the Faceless Man (quite disturbing actually) as well as the dramatic climax, which leaves the viewer interpreting whether or not its a happy or sad ending for Ofelia.

I feel that the film is a beautiful mixture of light fantasy and dark realism, which almost echoes the challanges of growing up as a child, beginning to see both the good and bad sides of life. The film is accessible for a large audience particulalry those who enjoy other mainstream films that have a similar genre such as 'Lord Of The Rings', 'Harry Potter' or 'The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which does have some very close parrallerls. Overall, 'Pan's Lab' is a uinque gothic fairy tale, which deals with escapism from the real world and its problem, being perfectly told by us thanks to Guillmero Del Toro, seeing that the film is right up his alley.

4/5