Pan's Labyrinth

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Foreign

We all loved hearing bedtime stories as children. What child was not exposed to “fairy tales” or “fables” or other stories about magical beings and mystical entities? Though we’ve largely seen the cleaned up version of these stories (thanks to Walt Disney and his cartoons), a lot of fairy tales had more violent and sinister qualities when they were first heard. It is from this school of thought that “Pan’s Labyrinth” seems to come from.

In ancient times, Princess Moanna, daughter of the king of the underworld went to the surface and lost her memories. She aged and died, but the king believed that someday, her spirit would return to him. When the film begins, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) travels with her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet her stepfather. Set in fascist Spain, the stepfather is the cruel Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), a man tasked to hunt down Republican rebels while stationed at an old mill. Placed under the care of Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), a maid who is secretly helping the rebels, Ofelia stumbles into a nearby labyrinth. There, she meets a magical faun (Doug Jones) who recognizes Ofelia as the true Princess Moanna. Only by accomplishing three tasks can she reclaim her kingdom.

First of all, the Spanish title of this piece is really “El Laberinto del fauno” or literally “The Labyrinth of the Faun”. So, the faun Ofelia meets never gives his name, and director Guillermo del Toro says he isn’t meant to represent the Greek god Pan. I only saw the trailer for the film once, and didn’t really know what to expect when watching the DVD. All I knew was that it would be in a foreign language (Spanish as it turns out), had subtitles, and had magical creatures. That was just the tip of this considerably sized iceberg.

My only knowledge of del Toro before this was as director of the movies “Hellboy”, “Blade 2” and “Mimic”. With that kind of resume, I was kind of expecting a more action-oriented flick. However in this instance, the director succeeds more in telling a story with heart and substance rather than just going for explosions and special effects.

Since “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a Spanish language piece, I had no preconceived notions about any of the actors chosen. Thus, in my eyes, each was performing their parts perfectly. Though we have gotten used to child actors like Dakota Fanning, Haley Joel Osment, and their ilk in recent years, it was nice to see Baquero doing her own thing as the lead in this film. She doesn’t overact or resort to cuteness to get her message across. In fact there is a sense of honesty in her Ofelia that I tend to find lacking in Hollywood’s child stars. Lopez’s Capitan Vidal is cruel, malevolent, and downright nasty. In other words, he’s just the type of villain you’ll love to hate. Verdu as Mercedes also earns my sympathy, even as the character balances serving under Vidal while also plotting his downfall.

I would be remiss if I didn’t cite the exceptional performance of someone who is too often hidden under makeup and hardly ever gets any credit. Doug Jones performed as Abe Sapien in “Hellboy”, but his voice was dubbed by David Hyde Pierce. He will be the Silver Surfer in the upcoming sequel to “Fantastic Four” but Laurence Fishburne will be the voice emanating from his mouth when he speaks onscreen. In the case of “Pan’s”, we see Jones perform as two characters. As both “Pan” and the creepy “Pale Man”, Jones is once more buried under prosthetics that he would be unrecognizable even to those who know him. However, I found out that in preparation for this film, he actually studied an older form of Spanish so that as Pan, it would be his lips we’d see moving. Now that’s dedication!

All in all, “Pan’s Labyrinth” isn’t for the faint-hearted. Del Toro doesn’t try to hide the atrocities of war, and there are parts that are downright gross and disgusting. The ending did leave me a bit confused, but I guess that’s exactly what del Toro had in mind when he crafted it. Add to that his creepy characters like the Pale Man, and you’ll see why this isn’t even remotely a kid’s movie. It is a contemporary adult take on both the Spanish Civil War as well as a dark and twisted fable. No, it isn’t for everybody and some might find that disturbing. Luckily, I am not one of those people, and I thought it was still pretty good.