Pan's Labyrinth Rocked my Socks Off!

Pan's Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro is a very original movie. It is full of action, suspense, and yet was able to introduce me to a very original story. Most of the credit should go to Guillermo del Toro, who directed and wrote the screenplay as well. It was produced by many people, including Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Bertha Navarro, Frida Torresblanco, and Alvaro Augustin. But telling this story would not have been possible without the actors/actresses. There is Maribel Verdú who plays Mercedes the main house keeper, Sergi López who plays Capitán Vidal the main antagonist, Doug Jones who plays the Faun as well as the Pale Man, and many other minor characters that helped bring the story together. But the most important is Ivana Baquero who plays Ofelia, the main character. She seems to handle herself quite well in front of the camera at such a young age. She seems quite real when it comes to her reactions and emotions. She seems more natural while acting than some of the younger American actors/actresses that I have seen. Then there was the way the movie was filmed, it was all shot to seem like a story. The person behind the photography was Guillermo Navarro. He seems to try really hard to always have the actors face shown, every emotion and facial expression is captured. He uses a large number of techniques as well for the filming. The music is very important as well. Javier Navarrete is behind all of the songs in the film, the songs are never too loud, they are soothing yet a bit creepy in a way. It made me relax, yet at the same time gave me a creepy feeling because of the way it is played. I think the best example of this is the theme song from the movie "Long, Long Time Ago". This movie is very original compared to anything I have seen before, but it did make me see some connections to a movie I had seen recently. There are some similarities between Pan's Labyrinth and The Chronicles of Narnia. In both films there are innocent children that step into a fantasy world and have very important roles in those worlds. Pan's Labyrinth is set during the Spanish Civil War in 1944. There seems to three specific conflicts that appear in the film, yet they are connected. The first is between the soldiers who follow the orders of Franco and the revolutionaries, second is the connection between her and the Faun, and third is Ofelia's conflict with the adults around her. The main characters are Ofelia, Mercedes, Capitán Vidal, and the Faun. The story revolves around Ofelia, a young girl who has moved with her pregnant mother to live at a military fort with her step father Capitán Vidal. While she stays there, a fantasy world opens up to her. Mercedes seems more of a mother figure to Ofelia than her actual mother, she becomes a mentor to Ofelia. Capitán Vidal is the antagonist and is the stepfather of Ofelia. The Faun is a creature of Ofelia's fantasy world that she has stumbled upon, it is hard to tell which side the Faun is one, good or evil. The plot of the movie overall is well-structured, the story is easily followed. But there are underlying themes and hidden messages throughout the movie that are a bit difficult to find. Everything seems to be resolved in the end and makes logical sense, yet there are questions that are never really answered that keeps the audience thinking. The dialogue in the movie is very real and what a person would normally say in Spanish. One of the more important themes that I found was that one should not blindly obey to authority without question. The acting was superb in my opinion, Ofelia really showed an innocent child very well and Capitán Vidal actually did such a great job at being the antagonist that I just wanted him to die close to the end of the film. The sets, costumes and makeup was beautifully done, the set in the long hallway leading to the Pale Man's dining room was so extravagant, the Faun and the Pale Man's costume/makeup along with some computer graphics made them come alive and become the creatures of fantasy that they were meant to be. I really liked the way this movie was filmed as well. There were many slow tracking/steady cam shots that just allowed me to capture the emotions of the characters much better. During these slow shots there wasn't too much action going on but when there was, I noticed a lot more cuts during those scenes. For example, the scene with Ofelia and the Pale Man in the corridor. There were many lengthy shots in the film, including a scene that I liked was of Ofelia walking along the edge of the Pale Man's dining table full of food. There was a use of deep focus as well in this scene where the Pale Man was on the right but Ofelia is clearly visible and in focus in the background walking towards the camera. But my favorite shot of all is a medium shot of Ofelia standing in front of the three locks, but with the unfocused Pale Man over her shoulder in the distance. This shot just gave me a slight chill down my spine because I kept wondering when the Pale Man was going to move. Pan's Labyrinth was a very enjoyable movie, and was just so original. It was something I had never seen before. It was a new idea by mixing historical facts with fantasy. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen it, and to anyone who has already seen it, just because it allows people to see things they had not seen the first time around.

Pan's Labyrinth Trailer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7YeuPMrPt_Y