Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth ****

"Pan's Labyrinth" is every cinema fans dream-a journey into the darkest imagination, as well as a gripping war story, and dazzling visuals. This is the most visual stunning movie of the year, and when it comes to telling an original and moving story, there is nothing like it. In fact, when it comes to any type of movie, you've never quite seen anything like this. "Pan's Labyrinth" is the third film by a Mexican director this year that ends up being a masterpiece-the first two being "Babel" and "Children of Men." This is the best of the unofficial trilogy, simply because Guillermo del Toro puts so much imagination into his script, crafting two separate stories that are so good that you can never pick one over the other. Whenever he is focusing on one side of the tale, you are never wondering what is happening on the other. And they both end up meshing into a stunning conclusion, where del Toro ends up with one of the darkest possible conclusions-to which I have to give him credit. It is not everyday where a movie ends on a somber note, and when they do I look for them.

"Pan's Labyrinth' tells the story of Ofelia, who, in 1944, travels with her pregnant mother to the military compound of her future step-father, Captain Videl. Videl is a horrible man who predicts that the baby will be a boy so that he could raise him to be a strong and powerful man. Videl is also the type who tortures for no reason whatsoever. He kills people first, and then asks questions about them. Ofelia isn't happy with her new home, but all that changes when she ends up finding a labyrinth in the woods that is made all of rock. Inside she ends up finding magical creatures, one of them being a giant Faun who believes that Ofelia is the missing princess of their land. The Faun gives Ofelia three tasks that she must complete to prove that she is the princess-the first being to retrieve a key that is being protected by a giant toad, and the second being to get something from the lair of a man with eyes on his hands. In order to see, he holds his hands up to his empty eye sockets. The third task will reveal secrets in the film, so I'll be skipping that one. Ofelia tries to complete the three tasks that the Faun has given her, and at the same time cope with the fact that her mother is getting ill-the baby is not leaving her very healthy. She also has to escape from the Captain, who is going through the Spanish Civil War, and his dastardly deeds involving it.

Do not be fooled. Even though there are magical creatures, and fairies, this is not the type of fairy tale to watch with children. There is graphic and bloody images that even made me flinch at times, including a homemade sowing scene. Del Toro does not fail to take advantage of the R rating, delving deep into the darkest sections of the imagination to produce a magnificent adult fairy tale. Come to think of it there have been a lot of adult fairy tales this year, including "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes" and "Tideland." I would say that this film holds a bit to the morals of "Tideland," as both films explore the role of innocence compared to evil and crazy things. "Pan's Labyrinth" takes a more serious approach to the subject, actually throwing Ofelia into a dangerous world, while the main character in "Tideland" was going through some of the most unusual things imaginable. If life was anything like "Tideland" for an actual little girl, then I would just feel really sorry for them. Like I said, there are two stories here, the first being the fantasy story with the Faun, and the second being Ofelia stuck in the real world-with her evil stepfather and her sick mother. And the Captain is more than just evil-he is the epitome. I can't think of a villain that is really very worse than him at all.

The visuals are atonishing, with careful care and dedication put into everything. There are only two or three real magical characters-the toad, the Faun, and then the man with the eyes on his hands-as well as certain fairies, but the set designs are equally stunning, including the labyrinth itself, which seems like just a big rock room in the beginning, and isn't really explored to the fullest until the end. I loved all of the magical creatures, and the feeling of never being able to fully trust the Faun. While he did seem kind hearted and friendly, his appearance made me wonder if I was right or not, and the man with the eyes on his hands was terrific-the perfect mesh of completely scary and visually amusing. I'll admit I was expecting a little more magic that there was, and I didn't know that it would get so involved with the Spanish Civil War and that aspect, but all the better-the real life dire situations meshed well with fantasy, that I never had the feeling that I was watching two movies at once, although the colors are good at telling you which points were fantasy and which more realistic. "Pan's Labyrinth" redefines the word epic, and is certainly del Toro's masterpiece. How somebody could go from "Blade" to this is beyond me, but he did go an extra mile! This is a beautiful film, and certainly one of the best of the year. This is what film making is all about.