In Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro pays as much attention to his humans as he does to his beasts, unleashing a story with all the shivering intensity and satisfying denouement of the darkest Grimm's fairy tale.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:188
Fresh:179
Rotten:9
Average Rating:8.5/10
Consensus: Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable. Told through the eyes of a little girl whose imaginary world is inhabited by nightmarish creatures, Pan's Labyrinth is a visually imaginative and allegorical take on the fears she faced in Spain during WWII.
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
US Box Office: $37,384,484
Synopsis: Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, PAN'S LABYRINTH is a thrilling, violent fairy tale set in post-Civil War Spain. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, a young girl who moves with her mother,... Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, PAN'S LABYRINTH is a thrilling, violent fairy tale set in post-Civil War Spain. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, a young girl who moves with her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), into the home of Captain Vidal (Sergi López), in an abandoned mill in the middle of dark, dangerous woods. Vidal is leading his team of soldiers against resistance fighters--and he will do whatever is necessary to kill every last one of them. As Vidal bosses around the pregnant Carmen, a flying creature leads Ofelia through a garden labyrinth and into an underground cave ruled by Pan (HELLBOY's Doug Jones), who believes that Ofelia might be the lost princess of this strange yet magical place. To prove she is royalty, Ofelia must complete three tasks, each more difficult and terrifying than the previous one. Meanwhile, Vidal is becoming more and more paranoid, torturing and murdering seemingly at will. Del Toro (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, HELLBOY, CRONOS) creates a marvelous battle between good and evil, between heroes and villains, in both the real world aboveground and the mystical land below. Baquero gives a compelling performance as the terrorized Ofelia, who is befriended by Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), a woman who harbors some secrets of her own. Stellar production design, superb special effects, and a stirring score by Javier Navarrete add to the scary fun. Selected as the closing-night entry in the 2006 New York Film Festival, PAN'S LABYRINTH is a captivating story that is not for the squeamish. [More]
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones, Alex Angulo, Roger Casamajor, Ivana Massague
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Screenwriter: Guillermo Del Toro
Producer: Berta Navarro, Alfonso Cuaron, Frida Torresblanco, Alvaro Augustin
Composer: Javier Navarrete
Studio: Picturehouse
Reviews for Pan's Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth is that rarest of cinematic rarities, a fully and flawlessly realized fantasy film.
Best picture of 2006: This vividly aesthetic, poignantly haunting, densely rich fable for adults represents the maturation of del Toro as a director of the first rank, raising the bar of the fantasy genre; the most visionary film in Cannes Fest this year.
[Guillermo] del Toro is a master at this type of film, going beyond the realm of mere fantasy to create a fable wrapped within a carefully crafted drama.
Del Toro's latest is a darkly enchanting adult fairy tale, flecked with gore and terrifying creatures, both human and fantastical.
An adult fairy tale mixed with brutal reality, the product of an exquisite imagination.
A filmmaker blossoming into true greatness... Pan's Labyrinth is a film of breathtaking emotional, thematic and visual depth.
If Tim Burton and Jan Svankmejer had teamed up to make The Chronicles of Narnia, the result probably would have looked something like this picture.
Unlike The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth's allegories are not particularly rich, but the film's fantasy sequences remain seductive pageants of spiritual and cultural nuance.
Stunningly beautiful and movingly honest, this is one of best films of the year and another notch on the belt of one of the today's most exciting filmmakers.
A disjunction remains between the story’s childlike form and its gruesome execution, but few directors are so adept at conveying both the uncanny in the real and the recognisable in the fantastic.
In his highly atmospheric film, Del Toro also extracts some excellent performances, especially Lopez, who makes his character a monster with some human qualities, and Maribel Verdú as Ofelia's ailing mother.
I only wish more people in Hollywood would take chances on films with this kind of imagination behind it!
A richly imagined and exquisitely violent fantasy from writer-director Guillermo del Toro.
Latest News for Pan's Labyrinth
April 21, 2009:
Five Favorite Films with Ron Perlman
While he's become best known for portraying a red, horned antihero in Guillermo del Toro's popular comic book adaptations Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Ron Perlman... More...
November 14, 2008:
Five Favorite Films with Guillermo del Toro
RT caught up with Hellboy II director Guillermo del Toro at the DVD/Blu-ray Launch Event for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, where the celebrated fantasy auteur shared his favorite... More...
July 13, 2008:
Guillermo del Toro - RT's Dinner and the Movies Interview
We have an extended chat with the director of Cronos, Pan's Labyrinth and this week's Hellboy II to talk about his career past, present and future and tap him for juicy... More...
July 01, 2008:
Edinburgh 2008: What to Watch
We share twenty of the best films screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, currently running in the Scottish city. More...
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