REVIEW: Pan's Labyrinth

My wife and I saw this on my birthday about a month ago. What can I say but Guillermo Del Toro continues to get better by the picture. Now I didn't go completely gaga for this film like some I know did, but it was a great movie. It is much different than I thought it was going to be. It even surprised me a bit too. The movie is dark and very depressing yet very enlightening at the same time.

In 1944 fascist Spain, a girl, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old fawn in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.

The movie to me is about the power of imagination and how important that is to people who have the need to escape into it for more than just creative purposes. The young girl in the film uses her imagination to escape a horrible situation both domestic and war torn Spain as her world literally collapses in and around her. The only thing that seems to help is this imaginary world that helps her deal with such terrible conditions at home.

The cinematography in this sucker is low key but about as good it gets. Hats off to DP Guillermo Navarro for making Del Doro's vision shine even brighter. And its no wonder he won the Academy Award for best Cinematography. Well done. Del Toro is a kid at heart and I totally understand where he is coming from. He loves fantasy and tries here to reason with it and make it as real as he can, because to his little hero it is real and she believes in it as much as Del Toro does.

I really enjoyed this film as grim and harsh as its reality may be. It made me think about how wonderful it is for us to be able to have imaginations and to be able to use them in an ever changing world. Cannot wait to see what Del Toro serves up next. One of the best of 2006 by far.