Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

9/10

Starring

Sergi López

Maribel Verdú

Ivana Baquero

Doug Jones

Directed and Written by Guillermo del Toro

This is one of the best child casting I have seen. Pan’s Labyrinth is Guillermo del Toro best movie, and it is set after the Spanish Civil War in 1944.

The movie’s language is Spanish, but the events were just too magical and so set to entertain that there is little room for boredom. Every scene meant something, every action led somewhere, and the visual effects plus characterization were so written to capture your love, pity, admiration or hate.

This dark fantasy movie crosses the boundaries between the present struggle of a little girl trying to fit into a world she does not seem to care for, the human world. And a magical world where everything she could desire were just three tasks away from her.

Guillermo’s writing does not dive too much into the magical world, but bases itself on the adventure of Ofelia as she tries to get back to her home and reign as the princess of the underworld.

The movie plot starts with the introduction of the character Princess Moanna whose father is the king of the underworld. Moanna visits the human world, where the sunlight blinds her and erases her memory, her visit made her mortal and she later dies.

Her father believes that her spirit will return to the underworld to take her place as future ruler, so he builds labyrinths (which act as portals) around the world with the hope that she will one day run into one.

That day came.

A girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) travels with her pregnant and sick mother to meet Captain Vidal, her new stepfather. Vidal is assigned to hunt down the remaining rebels of the civil war.

On her journey she sees a large stick insect which she believes is a fairy. The insect followed her to her new home and one night turned to a fairy and led her to the labyrinth. There, she meets the faun, who believes she is the reincarnation of Princess Moanna. He gives her three tasks to complete for her to be able to return to the underworld. She accepted the challenge and sets off.

If the movie were more on the tasks, it would not have been so magical a movie. Her life was being torn in two, as she struggles to be there for her sick mother. Also, a lot was happening too – as Captain Vidal's quest to kill all rebels, lead him to miss the ones hiding in plain sight.

Young Ofelia and we the watchers, deal with torture, death and awesome escapes in other to get to the end of this magical journey.

Winning Three Academy and Bafta awards, one of which is the awesome makeup the movie portrays. The movie went ahead to win many other awards in its year of release. There is nothing more to say, but go see this movie it is a keeper.