Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 201
Fresh: 192 | Rotten: 9
Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable.
Average Rating: 8.9/10
Critic Reviews: 46
Fresh: 46 | Rotten: 0
Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable.
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Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 571,333
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Movie Info
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the phantasmagorical cinema that defined such early fare as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone with this haunting fantasy-drama set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and detailing the strange journeys of an imaginative young girl who may be the mythical princess of an underground kingdom. Her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), recently remarried to sadistic army captain Vidal (Sergi Lpez) and soon to bear the cruel military man's child, shy young
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Cast
-
Ariadna Gil
Carmen -
Ivana Baquero
Ofelia -
Sergi López
Vidal -
Maribel Verdu
Mercedes -
Doug Jones
Pan / Pale Man -
Álex Angulo
Doctor -
Manolo Solo
Garces -
César Vea
Serrano -
Roger Casamajor
Pedro -
Ivan Massagué
El Tarta -
Gonzalo Martin Uriarte
Frances -
Eusebio Lazaro
Father -
Paco Vidal
Priest -
Juanjo Cucalon
Mayor -
Lina Mira
Mayor's Wife -
Mario Zorilla
First-Aid Boss -
Sebastián Haro
Civil Guard Captain -
Mila Espiga
Doctor's Wife -
Pepa Pedroche
Conchita -
María Jesús Gatoo
Jacinta -
Ana Saez
Paz -
Chani Martín
Trigo -
Milo Taboada
Young Man -
Fernando Albizu
Engineer -
Pedro G. Marzo
Manager -
Jose Luis Torrijos
Sergeant Bayona -
Inigo Garces
Young Guerrilla 2 -
Fernando Tielve
Young Guerrilla 2 -
Federico Luppi
King -
Chicho Campillo
Old Man -
Brittney Bush
Insect -
Elizabeth Irastorza
Fairy/Ballerina -
Shirley Cheechoo
Stick Insect -
Chong Che Leung
Stick Insect
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All Critics (201) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (205) | Rotten (9) | DVD (33)
Guillermo del Toro has crafted a masterpiece, a terrifying, visually wondrous fairy tale for adults that blends fantasy and gloomy drama into one of the most magical films to come along in years.
Top CriticThis is a fantasy realm so fully and elegantly realized, it might be the adaptation of a classic novel. Yet the source is Del Toro's own capacious imagination.
Pan's Labyrinth suggests that fairy-tale violence helps the vulnerable process and overcome real-life conflicts and that real-life violence permanently smashes the soul and the heart.
So breathtaking in its artistic ambition, so technically accomplished, so morally expansive, so fully realized that it defies the usual critical blather. See it, and celebrate that rare occasion when a director has the audacity to commit cinema.
Del Toro specializes in taking horror and superhero films to bold, baroque places, yet Pan's Labyrinth is a step above his usual forays into the fantastic.
A violent fantasy set during the Spanish Civil War, this magical film from Guillermo del Toro manages that intellectual high-mindedness, even as it resonates on a primal, mythic level.
Both magical and brutal, del Toro's film is a memorable exploration of the enduring power of fairytales.
The close-out of Pan's Labyrinth not only underlines its status as one of the great fantasy films of all time, but also its importance as a work of refined social and historical commentary.
a captivating, albeit unstable, blend of anti-Fascist social commentary and a visually sumptuous childhood fable
Fully deserving of its place in a distinguished political-fabulist lineage
Ofelia's smock is swiped from Alice, her faun from Narnia, and her magic book from Harry Potter, Del Toro sets her fairytale apart with its unrelenting gore and misery.
It's complex, it's masterful, and it's a pastiche of priceless talent that sums up to form one of the best films made in the last ten years...
Arresting though they may be, these mind-boggling effects, shot with limpid mystery by Guillermo Navarro and accompanied by chitinous whirs and crackles on the uncanny soundtrack, don't disrupt the double narrative but intensify it.
Pan's Labyrinth is a punishing, evocative poem. It is part ferocious reality and part fearful fantasy.
Brilliant, poignant fairy tale isn't for kids.
Pan's Labyrinth us that such fantasy offers no real escape from dreadful reality.
...a dark and wonderful fairy tale for grown-ups...
...a multifaceted film of worlds within worlds that works at all levels and touches one in every direction. (HD DVD Edition)
[In the featurettes] Del Toro is wisely allowed to dominate, ensuring that everything remains engaging.
Audience Reviews for Pan's Labyrinth
Following the Spanish Civil War in 1944, young Ofelia (Baquero) moves to a rural town with her pregnant mother (Gil) to live with her Fascist military stepfather (López) who is determined to weed out resistance fighters to Franco's dictatorship. It's in this remote town that Ofelia meets a faun in the centre of a labyrinth who tells her that she is a princess. However, to claim her rightful place in this magical land she must perform certain gruesome tasks to prove her royalty.
It's hard to pigeon hole a film like Pan's Labyrinth as there are so many facets to it's structure. On the one hand, it's a political/historical drama and on the other it's a fantasy/horror. Few (if any) films will spring to mind when these genres are mentioned in the same breath which reflects the very craftsmanship that's at work here. One thing that you can undoubtedly count on, though, is it's highly imaginative nature. Sure, we've had fantastical stories before where a young girl escapes her constrained life to enter bigger and more possible worlds. We've also had commentaries on the brutalities and restrictions of fascist regimes but to combine them into a wondrous journey of life, struggle and imagination is an amalgamation that I have rarely witnessed. Such is the case with this film and such is the skill of del Toro in his writing and handling of the material. He incorporates an abundance of childhood fantasies, from delving into books and mythology - that feature fauns and fairies - to the power of a piece of chalk on the wall. This may be built around the point of view of a child's eye but its also not afraid to explore the darker recesses of that very imagination and construct some of the most monstrous creatures that can inhabit that realm. Del Toro is in absolute command here and he's aided, immeasurably, by cinematographer Guillermo Navarro in capturing and contrasting his world within a world; one is a visually striking and enchanting fantasia, the other a stark and brutal reality. It's a balance that's difficult to achieve but with deft handling of coexisting genres, del Toro's vision is able to come to fruition and manages to be both a reminder of the rigidity of fascism and the escapable ability of an imaginary youthful mind.
To embody the young protagonist, we are gifted an outstanding performance from Ivana Baquero who carries a heavy weight on her young shoulders and does so, with a skill beyond her years. Sergi Lopez also provides marvellous support as the bestial Captain Vidal who's a smouldering villain that's on a par with any of the war genre's nastiest characters.
It's very difficult to find criticism in this film as there simply, isn't any. The only one that stands is in the film's title. It's slightly misleading as "Pan" never actually features here. The original international title translates as "Labyrinth of the Fuan" which is probably the most pedantic gripe you'll ever hear from me.
A stunning piece of work that's both beautifully and horrifically executed. Modern masterpiece is a term that gets brandished around too often these days but this is one that's certainly deserving of such praise.
Mark Walker
Super Reviewer
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- Vidal: You could have obeyed me!
- Doctor: But Captain, to obey, just like that, for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do.
-
- Ofelia: Many, many years ago in a sad, faraway land, there was an enormous mountain made of rough, black stone. At sunset, on top of that mountain, a magic rose blossomed every night that made whoever plucked it immortal. But no one dared go near it because its thorns were full of poison. Men talked amongst themselves about their fear of death, and pain, but never about the promise of eternal life. And every day, the rose wilted, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone... forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain, forever alone, until the end of time.
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- Carmen: You're getting older, and you'll see that life isn't like your fairy tales. The world is a cruel place. And you'll learn that, even if it hurts.
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- Pan / Pale Man: And it is said that the Princess returned to her father's kingdom. That she reigned there with justice and a kind heart for many centuries. That she was loved by her people. And that she left behind small traces of her time on Earth, visible only to those who know where to look.
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- Ofelia: [to the giant toad] Hello, I am Princess Moanna, and I am not afraid of you.
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- Pan / Pale Man: A long time ago, in the underground realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamed of the human world. She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased every trace of the past from her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died. However, her father, the King, always knew that the Princess' soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning...
Discussion Forum
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February 22, 2012:
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March 11, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Pans Labyrinth (DE)
- Pan's Labyrinth (UK)
