Pan's Labyrinth Reviews

This is a movie with a simple and straightforward plot which contains layers and layers of intelligent writing, metaphors and message.

To speak further about the script will end up in spoilers and that would be pointless since my very purpose writing this review is to encourage people to see it.

This is no small feat, interpreting fantasy as something of a product of a real world, cross-referencing how the child acts to her real surroundings and the "other world", metaphors that describe the accelerated state of growing up some of us are put through... Incredible. Simple, straightforward yet there is so much to be appreciated.

Those who are saying how it's predictable and thus not enjoyable, I ask of you, which movie nowadays aren't predictable? Hell, even 21 grams was predictable but so damned good. It's not about how it ends, you can always predict how a movie would end if you've ever taken a half-decent script writing class or have some common sense. It's always about how well you tell a story.

I'm grateful there are still directors who aren't tied down to this new epidemic of including a plot twist simply because they need a plot twist.

Pan's Labyrinth features some of the best storytelling and attention to detail without being affected by the now ever-popular opinion of cameras having to be put through several technical difficulties to make the shots eligible to be called a brilliant shot.

I am also grateful for them not dubbing it. Watching it in its' original language is much, much more rewarding even if I had to rely on the subtitles for most of the time.

This is a brilliant movie. Watch it.

Don't let the fact that it is in Spanish throw you. This is a dark, moving and sometimes terrifying masterpiece of a film. Director Guilliemo Del Torro directs with briskness and deep understanding of the film. The film looks gorgeous, very beautiful in one scene, and quite Gothic in another. Another director I can think of that directs visually stunning films is Ridley Scott. The music score by Javier Navarette is haunting, poignant and beautiful. The script is very mysterious, suspenseful and genuinely moving at times, and there are some genuinely memorable characters, the idealistic protagonist, the brutal stepfather, the pregnant mother and the caring housemaid. Here is one of the few fantasies where the images stay with you forever. There are beautiful costumes and a stunning forest set, the labyrinth is very Gothic and dark, as is the wise and mysterious faun, and the war and torture scenes are unashamedly graphic. Another honourable mention should go to the monster that tricks children into eating his food when he is asleep, and then he wakes up and eats them. He was so terrifying, the very look of him, made my blood run cold. He is one of the most terrifying creatures I have ever seen in the history of film. All in all, a visually stunning and absolutely magnificent film, with a definite 10/10. Bethany Cox.