Pan's Labyrinth
Director del Toro will warn you himself: “I hope no one takes their children to this movie. I hope no one mistakes it for Harry Potter”. Pan’s Labyrinth is a brutal fantasy-horror set in fascist Spain, that most rare of genres. Ofelia (Baquero), a 12 year old girl, lives with her pregnant Ma and tyrannical stepfather (Lopez). To escape her harsh realities, Ofelia retreats into her own imagination.
The film cuts to and fro from her 1944 life in Spain, and the no-less kind mythical Labyrinth where a disgustingly ugly faun by the name of Pan (played by mime Doug Jones, from del Toro’s Hellboy) sets her a series of challenges. If she achieves them, she’ll take the crown as princess of this underworld kingdom and simultanesouly save her family.
- Director:
- Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Mimic)
- Writer:
- Guillermo del Toro
- Cast:
- Ariadna GilIvana BaqueroSergi LópezDoug Jones
Reviews & comments
The New York Times
pressA swift and accessible entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in its effects...
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe performers are all good with Baquero poised and beautiful as Ofelia and Verdu vital and spirited as the rebellious Mercedes. Lopez gives an extraordinary performance as the bestial captain, an irredeemable villain to rank with Ralph Fiennes' Nazi in "Schindler's List"...
San Francisco Chronicle
pressVisually stunning, it meshes haunting images with a complex multilevel story about the enchantment of youth...
Premiere Magazine
pressThis intense film, a mix of horror, fantasy, and history that convinces on all those levels and mixes them up with dizzying brio, is a searing cinematic experience, a beautiful, terrifying vision from writer-director Guillermo del Toro...
New Zealand Herald
pressan affecting fable, made more so especially by the luminous performance of young Baquero and the truly frightening two worlds she finds herself in...
Empire Magazine
pressDark, twisted and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to startling effect...
BBC
pressDel Toro's trademark visual flair gets its finest ever chance to shine, rendering the tale onscreen so perfectly that the subtitles are barely needed. Every actor - most notably, Ivana Baquero's wide-eyed Ofelia and Sergi López's vicious, glittering Captain – excels. Compelling from first frame to last, Pan's Labyrinth never misses a chance to wrench, quell or quicken your heart: this visionary project propels Del Toro into the highest league of filmmakers. There can be no excuses. See this film...
Simply one of the greatest fantasy films ever created. A hugely symbolic and powerful journey that is perfectly crafted with magnificent visuals and a child performance for the ages.
I really despise this movie. Although I have to agree that the visuals are stunning and the story is solid, I really think Guillermo did it wrong. Really wrong. The moments I wasn't bored to tears, I was either thinking "Gee, that's nicely gorey but seems awfully unrealistic / misplaced," "wow, this sucks," or "Argh Ofelia just die already. Messing up her...
This movie underscored for me why I need to stop accepting without question the opinions of the professional movie reviewers. I didn't enjoy the storyline to Pan's Labyrinth - the main character, an exquisitely sensitive and bright little girl, suffered schizophrenic episodes which manifested themselves as withdrawal into fantasy worlds when the real world...
Believe me when I say it gives me no pleasure to hold this position: Pan's Labyrinth, the movie that is, it seems, impervious to dislike, really left me cold. It's an unfair starting-point, but the fact is that the pic's hype didn't get it off on a good foot. All this malarkey about a hidden gem for discerning, Hollywood-scorning audiences just primes...
A movie like this brings into stark relief the fact that we have all become Hollywood lackies. We are like grateful trained pets accepting the lack lustre, canned drivel that flows from the American film making machine. Films can be so much more...
Now here's a movie that sits squarely in its own genre. Brutal war-horror-fantasy anyone? The closest movie I can think of comparing it to is La Vite A Bella, with the macabre concentration camp exterminations masked by the boundless humour of the male lead. Except there's not much that'll have you laughing or smiling in the Labyrinth of the Faun....
The cinematography is good, the special effects are gory and I have no problem with the acting. The imagery was good but there were some things that just weren't elaborated on enough. I felt some of the "missions" Ofelia had to undertake were rushed while other areas of the film dragged on. It was like watching a combination of 80s flick Labyrinth and The...
It's just amazing. I've never seen anything which stealthily evokes so many emotions. It's scary, really frighteneing and you'll hide behind your hands. It's sad and will bring more then a few tears to your eyes. It's beautiful, infact beautiful doesn't do it justice, it's exquisite. It's grown-up and it makes you feel like a child again. You totally...
The New York Times
pressA swift and accessible entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in its effects...
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe performers are all good with Baquero poised and beautiful as Ofelia and Verdu vital and spirited as the rebellious Mercedes. Lopez gives an extraordinary performance as the bestial captain, an irredeemable villain to rank with Ralph Fiennes' Nazi in "Schindler's List"...
San Francisco Chronicle
pressVisually stunning, it meshes haunting images with a complex multilevel story about the enchantment of youth...
Premiere Magazine
pressThis intense film, a mix of horror, fantasy, and history that convinces on all those levels and mixes them up with dizzying brio, is a searing cinematic experience, a beautiful, terrifying vision from writer-director Guillermo del Toro...
New Zealand Herald
pressan affecting fable, made more so especially by the luminous performance of young Baquero and the truly frightening two worlds she finds herself in...
Empire Magazine
pressDark, twisted and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to startling effect...
BBC
pressDel Toro's trademark visual flair gets its finest ever chance to shine, rendering the tale onscreen so perfectly that the subtitles are barely needed. Every actor - most notably, Ivana Baquero's wide-eyed Ofelia and Sergi López's vicious, glittering Captain – excels. Compelling from first frame to last, Pan's Labyrinth never misses a chance to wrench, quell or quicken your heart: this visionary project propels Del Toro into the highest league of filmmakers. There can be no excuses. See this film...
Simply one of the greatest fantasy films ever created. A hugely symbolic and powerful journey that is perfectly crafted with magnificent visuals and a child performance for the ages.
I really despise this movie. Although I have to agree that the visuals are stunning and the story is solid, I really think Guillermo did it wrong. Really wrong. The moments I wasn't bored to tears, I was either thinking "Gee, that's nicely gorey but seems awfully unrealistic / misplaced," "wow, this sucks," or "Argh Ofelia just die already. Messing up her...
This movie underscored for me why I need to stop accepting without question the opinions of the professional movie reviewers. I didn't enjoy the storyline to Pan's Labyrinth - the main character, an exquisitely sensitive and bright little girl, suffered schizophrenic episodes which manifested themselves as withdrawal into fantasy worlds when the real...
Believe me when I say it gives me no pleasure to hold this position: Pan's Labyrinth, the movie that is, it seems, impervious to dislike, really left me cold. It's an unfair starting-point, but the fact is that the pic's hype didn't get it off on a good foot. All this malarkey about a hidden gem for discerning, Hollywood-scorning audiences just primes...
A movie like this brings into stark relief the fact that we have all become Hollywood lackies. We are like grateful trained pets accepting the lack lustre, canned drivel that flows from the American film making machine. Films can be so much more...
Now here's a movie that sits squarely in its own genre. Brutal war-horror-fantasy anyone? The closest movie I can think of comparing it to is La Vite A Bella, with the macabre concentration camp exterminations masked by the boundless humour of the male lead. Except there's not much that'll have you laughing or smiling in the Labyrinth of the Faun....
The cinematography is good, the special effects are gory and I have no problem with the acting. The imagery was good but there were some things that just weren't elaborated on enough. I felt some of the "missions" Ofelia had to undertake were rushed while other areas of the film dragged on. It was like watching a combination of 80s flick Labyrinth and The...
It's just amazing. I've never seen anything which stealthily evokes so many emotions. It's scary, really frighteneing and you'll hide behind your hands. It's sad and will bring more then a few tears to your eyes. It's beautiful, infact beautiful doesn't do it justice, it's exquisite. It's grown-up and it makes you feel like a child again. You totally...
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