It is, I suspect, a film to return to, like a country waiting to be explored: a maze of dead ends and new life.
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
...a solid film, though del Toro fans won't find many surprises in store.
Though not for the squeamish or fans of Fascism, this morbidly bewitching fantasy is an enchanting, escapist fairy tale, even if one designed strictly with adults in mind.
One of the most dazzling fairy tales to hit the big screen in a long time.
A brilliant juxtaposition of truth and imagination guaranteed to lay waste to every emotion.
It would probably have delighted Tolkien and Lewis, who believed that fairy tales help us apprehend the reality of grace as it glimmers through a screen, darkly.
Pan’s Labyrinth is one of those underdog films that needs to be seen and I encourage anyone who likes movies of any kind to check it out.
As each turn of events proves more menacing than the last to the young heroine of Pan's Labyrinth, her mother admonishes her: "Life isn't like your fairy tales." But it is. That's the secret at the center of Guillermo del Toro's magnificent film.
Ranks with the best examinations of children's inner lives, but be warned: Its haunting insights are best left to adults.
It's not every day that you see a movie that not only references both Victor Erice's creepy modernist classic Spirit of the Beehive and Ray Harryhausen's Seventh Voyage of Sinbad with equal reverence.
Although Pan's Labyrinth relies heavily on special effects, including the computer-generated kind, you're never aware of them. Del Toro, who wrote the story, has created a special universe. The spell it casts lingers long after the final reel.
Pan's Labyrinth, horrific and heartfelt in the way it sees the trauma of war through the eyes of a little girl, is some kind of great movie.
Childlike but never childish, fabulist but never fantastical, it's a triumph.
Pan's Labyrinth represents a quantum leap in del Toro's storytelling, drawing on Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio and many other inspirations to create something quite new and wonderful.
Because the violence is used not for titillation but to create a world we can be fearful about, because the film lives up to its tagline that "Innocence has a power evil cannot resist," we see it all without wishing we were somewhere else.
Unlike most horror movies, this chiller gives equal prominence to reality and fantasy, though the reality is far more frightening.
Pan's Labyrinth is a political fable in the guise of a fairy tale. Or maybe it's the other way around.
It's like being in a labyrinth, you never know what's going to be around the next corner.
Is (1) a victim of its own hype, and (2) nothing like what it's being marketed as, but there is an audience involvement writer-director Guillermo del Toro manages to work up all the same.
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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