Pan's Labyrinth

One of the greatest of all fantasy films.

With this film, del Toro seems to have created his manifesto, a tour de force of cautionary zeal, humanism and magic. At this writing, Pan's Labyrinth is the best-reviewed film of 2006 listed on the movie review Web site Metacritic.com, and for a reason: It's just that great.

In tone, Pan's Labyrinth resembles a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and H.P. Lovecraft, with some Buñuel thrown in for good measure. It is a tribute to - as well as a prime example of - the disturbing power of imagination.

Unlike most horror movies, this chiller gives equal prominence to reality and fantasy, though the reality is far more frightening. The only precedent that comes to mind in terms of a lyrical treatment of a child's experience of terror is "The Night of the Hunter."

This 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.

This is a true fairy tale, and one of the finest fantasy pictures ever made, but please do not take your young children to see it unless you want them to be scarred for life.

Suspended between the brutally graphic and flights of lyrical fancy, Pan's Labyrinth unfolds with the confidence of a classical fable, one that paradoxically feels both timeless and startlingly new.

Absolutely beautiful. Pan's labyrinth is absolute peak cinema, it's dark, violent, sad, yet beautiful in so many different ways. Watching this movie was one of the best experiences I've had in a while, it's a rollercoaster of emotions, thoughts and feelings like no other movie.

Pleasant disappointment. I’d always been told 'Pan’s Labyrinth' was a masterpiece, but after finally watching it, I feel it’s a good film that simply wasn’t what I expected. A lot of that disappointment comes from the imbalance between what the movie promises to be and what it actually delivers. Sergi López is phenomenal. His performance is brutal, razor-sharp, and practically carries the entire film on its shoulders. The depiction of Francoist Spain is suffocating, violent, and painfully real — genuinely terrifying. And it’s precisely because the political side is so strong that the fantasy feels pushed into the background, almost sidelined. I expected a story fully driven by dark fantasy with a war backdrop, but that’s not the direction Del Toro takes. Instead, the fantasy appears in symbolic flashes, tied to the protagonist’s psychology, rarely exploring what could have been a fully realized, inhuman world filled with extraordinary creatures. I was hoping for an explosion of creativity and breathtaking environments, but I ended up feeling the fantasy was surprisingly shallow. Sure, the Pale Man is iconic, but these moments are brief, and the “beyond” is barely developed. I finished the movie asking myself: Where is the labyrinth Spanish: Grata decepción. Siempre me pintaron 'El laberinto del fauno' como una obra maestra, aunque después de verla me parece que es una buena película, esperaba otra cosa completamente diferente. Gran parte de eso viene del desequilibrio entre lo que promete ser y lo que realmente ofrece. Sergi López lo hace impecable. Una interpretación brutal y tan afilada, que prácticamente sostiene toda la película. Una representación del franquismo asfixiante, violenta y que se siente real; da verdadero miedo. Y justamente por esa parte política, es por lo que la parte fantástica queda relegada a un segundo plano, casi marginada. Esperaba ver algo completamente dirigido hacia la fantasía oscura y de fondo una historia bélica, pero no es así. Del Toro hace lo contrario: la fantasía queda en destellos simbólicos, ligados a la psicología de la protagonista casi sin mostrar lo que podría haberse explorado de un mundo fantástico e inhumano, habitado por criaturas fantasiosas. Esperaba una explosión de creatividad y escenarios deslumbrantes, pero me quedo con una sensación de superficialidad. Claro que el Hombre Pálido es icónico, pero salen poco y no se profundiza en el más allá. Acabé la película preguntándome: ¿y el laberinto?

I loved this fantastic adult fairytale about a little girl caught up in a very grownup world but also inhabiting a fantasy world at night. This is one fantasy that is certainly not for children. There is some hefty violence for what could masquerade as a children’s film. The monsters are actually quite scary and gave me quite an intense ride from start to end. The whole film looks utterly visually stunning. I just can’t help but feel that it’s favouring style over depth. A good fairy tale set to the backdrop of horrific events. Beautiful imagery.

Boring pretentious crap. Filled with "deep symbolism" which makes boring pretentious people think they're smart when they pick up on it, hence the high score. Also gutwrenchingly sadistic, but in a pretentious way so intellectual snobs can enjoy it without feeling bad about their lack of empathy. I actually felt physically ill after watching this movie. You could say it "moved me deeply" as the snobs here do, but it didn't move me in a good or useful way. It moved me like it would move me to watch children being ****. You don't feel enlightened or enriched by being moved this way, you feel violated. Unless you're a pretentious snob, that is. I don't only hate this movie, I literally hate the people who would give it a 10. I fear what such people are capable of... Pan's Labyrinth is not just a bad movie, but a movie the world would be better off if it didn't exist. It still gets 3 stars for cinematic excellence though. Just to show I'm not to stupid to see its qualities and grok the multilayered symbolism. I understand all of it perfectly fine, I just happen to HATE IT.

Increadibly overated...plot full of holes,for example:what's the reason girl's mother get married to sadistic psychopath at the first place?Girl had been told for a million times not to eat food when comes to the monster and yet that's the first thing she did there,why?And maiden didn't kill sadistic bastard when she had a chance-she cut his mouth with a knife but didn't kill him,why?And so on...