Pan's Labyrinth (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Brilliant directing, cinematography, acting, and costumes/makeup
Disadvantages:	Nothing substantial, see review

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

PAN'S LABYRINTH

Intro

El laberinto del fauno, or Pan's Labryinth, as it is also known, is the dark fairytale from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. His other works had previously included Hellboy and Blade II, as well as a variety of lesser known Spanish films, but it was only with Pan's Labyrinth that del Toro began getting the respect he deserved as one of the most creative and imaginative director's in the business.

Pan's Labyrinth currently has a rating of 95% on rottentomatoes.com, and 8.5 on IMDB, as well as making it into the Top 250 list at number 71, which is an impressive feat, especially for a film entirely in a foreign language. The film also won 3 Oscars (Best Achievement in Art direction, Best Achievement in Cinematography, and Best Achievement in Makeup), as well as being nominated for three others. As if that wasn't enough, the film also received 22 minutes of applause at the Cannes film festival, which isn't bad if you think about it.

Plot

The film takes place in 1944, just after the end of the Spanish civil war. Ofelia, a young bookish girl who always seems lost in a fairytale, is traveling with her pregnant mother Carmen to live with Captain Vidal, the father of Carmen's unborn child, and Ofelia's new stepfather. Vidal is also a fascist leader, and is currently leading out an expeditionary force to root out the Spanish Marquis guerrillas in the mountains where they live.

Ofelia meets a flying stick insect that she believes to be a fairy, and follows it to an ancient labyrinth, where she meets Vidal's housekeeper Mercedes, who treats her kindly and returns her home. Later, Ofelia hears Mercedes conspiring with Captain Vidal's personal doctor, and learns that they are attempting to help the rebels.

In the middle of the night, the 'fairy' wakes Ofelia up, and once again leads her to the labyrinth. This time, she meets a mystical faun, who tells her that she is the long-lost Princess Moanna in a new body; a girl who disappeared from her father's underground realm many years before in order to experience the human world, but subsequently couldn't return. He then informs her that in order to return back to her rightful home, she must complete three tasks, to prove that her 'essence is intact'. She is given the 'Book of the Crossroads', which explains her tasks, and so begins her journey to return to her rightful land.

Acting

Ivana Baquero as Ofelia

This part was originally written for an eight or nine year old, but Guillermo del Toro was so impressed when he saw eleven year-old Ivana Baquero act that he decided to rewrite the part in order to accommodate the change in age. This is a testament to the young actress's ability, and I'm glad that he made that decision. I don't know whether an eight or nine year old lead would have worked well in this film, but I do know that Baquero's character slotted in perfectly in Pan's Labyrinth.

Not being a fluent Spanish speaker, I can't pretend to know how well exactly she delivered her lines, but what I could make out impressed me. But above all else, she delivered a very mature performance whilst still easily maintaining a feel of youthful innocence, and to summarize, it was a great performance.

Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal

Once every so often, you see a performance that completely blows you away. I got this feeling with Heath Ledger's 'Joker', Javier Bardem as 'Anton Chigurh', and after watching Sergi Lopez as Captain Vidal, I got the same feeling.

Captain Vidal is a remarkably cruel character, and whilst many would just keep the role average and one-dimensional, Sergi Lopez adds many different sides to the captain that many wouldn't be able to. It's a brilliant, emotion-packed role, and I'm very surprised that he wasn't even nominated for the Best Supporting Actor role.

Doug Jones as the Faun

As the only non-Spanish speaker on the set, Doug Jones was given the task of learning his entire lines, as well as Ivana Baquero's (so their scenes would flow smoothly) in a completely alien language. Why not just get a Spanish speaker in for the role? Well, his performance speaks for itself.

Although his speaking parts were understandably dubbed over for the final cut, Doug Jones gets the movements of the Faun perfect, and although this seems like only quite a small role, the Faun was a very important character, and Jones helps to create the mystical creature that we see on the big screen. He also plays 'The pale man', a character relating to one of Ofelia's tasks, and is similarly brilliant.

Maribel Verdu as Mercedes

Maribel Verdu was cast against her normal type of role, normally playing a 'sex goddess'. But Guillermo del Toro selected her to play the compassionate revolutionary because he saw 'a sadness' inside her, and once again he was 100% right, it's another great performance.

Verdu delivers a very heartfelt and emotional performance, giving yet more feeling and importance to the 'side-story' of the film. One criticism might be that she is occasionally a bit over-the-top and hysterical, but I suppose you would be in those circumstances.

Writing, directing, and general behind the scenes

Guillermo del Toro, although occasionally a bit hit-and-miss (see Blade II), has come up with an absolute winner with Pan's Labyrinth. He is famous for making books full of notes and illustrations before starting production on a film, and after he left years worth of these notes in the back of a taxi, he thought that it was the end of Pan's Labyrinth. However, when the cab driver discovered them and realized their great importance, he tracked down del Toro and returned the notes, at great personal expense and difficulty. Well I'd like to personally thank that cabbie, as without him, this brilliant project never could have happened.

The script is entirely del Toro's own work, occasionally plucking characters out of classic mythology or history, but generally using his own imagination to come up with the characters and ideas. The screenplay is very good, and each of the characters are well developed, but the main strength of the script is the sheer creativity of the plot, and del Toro won many awards for it.

The directing is also brilliant, effortlessly creating a harsh transition between a child's fantasy world and the grim realities that surround it. The scenes and setting are pretty much perfect, and each of the actors responds perfectly to the director, with no poor performances throughout the film. I think the fact that it was completely a product of his own imagination is the reason why the directing work is so smoothly represented on the big screen.

The score for the film is also very good, and whilst I can't pretend to remember if there were any particular movements that stood out for me, I do remember that the soundtrack always fitted in perfectly with the mood of the film, whether it was in Ofelia's dream world, or in the violence-packed real world.

The cinematography and costumes/make-up for this film were also perfect, as represented by the Oscars the film won in both of these categories. Each one of the mystical characters is brought to life magnificently by a crew of hard-working costume designers, which makes it all the more easy to get sucked in to the film. The camera work is also very good, as is the smooth transitional work from the editing team. Whilst this doesn't always matter, I would actually recommend buying the film in Blu-ray, as the added definition makes this work seem even better. To conclude, Pan's Labyrinth was a very well made film.

So it's a fairytale? Should I let my kids watch it?

A tricky one, as there are some aspects of the film that would appeal perfectly to children. I was below the recommended age of 15 when I first saw it, and I can't say it affected me too badly. But on the whole, I'd say that kids should steer clear from it, due to the high levels of graphic violence. I definitely wouldn't let anyone below the age of 11 or 12 watch it.

del Toro describes the film as 'a fairytale for adults' which pretty much describes it, most children wouldn't be able to properly understand it until they're a bit older. And while violence is certainly appealing to a lot of kids, particularly boys, there's nowhere near enough of it to keep them entertained for the duration of the film.

Conclusion

The good points

--> A brilliantly creative story from Guillermo del Toro
--> Perfect directing, cinematography, and costumes
--> Wonderful acting throughout, but particularly from Sergi Lopez
--> A good score to accompany the film
--> Great special effects
--> A scene involving a bottle (if you've scene it you know what I'm on about!)

The bad points

--> Might be a bit too fantastical and artsy to appeal to everyone
--> Having to read subtitles

Product information

Price - £3.98 (single disc), £6.98 (two-disc) £9.98 (blu-ray) Prices from www.amazon.co.uk
Running time - 119 minutes
Classification - UK15 / US R
DVD Extras - Although none are stated on Amazon, I would imagine that the second disc includes 'making-of' features, and commentary from the director, and probably much more.