Genre Grandeur – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – Tranquil Dreams

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Latin Directors, here’s another review of Pan’s Labyrinth this time by Kim of Tranquil Dreams

Thanks again to Anna of Film Grimoire for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by James of Back to the Viewer.  We will be reviewing our favorite movies featuring a dystopian world (past or future). Please get me your submissions by 25th April by sending them to dystopia@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice James!

Let’s see what Kim thought of this movie

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

 

Director: Guillermo del Toro

 

Cast: Ivana Bacquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil

 

When her mother gets remarried to the army captain Vidal and bears his child, Ofelia is forced to move to Vidal’s countryside house while her mother waits to have the baby.  Except, Vidal is evil man who is deeply influenced by his dedication to the army more than for her.  Just as she is feeling unhappy and lonely, a mystical faun Pan leads her to the stone labyrinth where he tells her that she is the princess of the underworld but in order to become this, she needs to complete three peculiar tasks.

Pan’s Labyrinth was the first Latin movie I had ever seen when I first saw this.  I had expected something completely different from it.  Its also the first movie from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro that I saw.  Although it was very different to what I expected, Pan’s Labyrinth is one of my favorite fantasy movies ever.  Why? Its because Guillermo del Toro weaves a twisted fairy tale intertwining fantasy and reality filled with creative mystical creatures and a eerie atmosphere and reminding its audience that sometimes, the scariest creatures are in the real world haunting our everyday lives, just being the evil human that they are.

If there’s anything del Toro is good at, Pan’s Labyrinth may not exactly be perfect but it comes really close.  The most important aspect of any sort f fantasy is its atmosphere that the director creates through the set.  Pan’s Labyrinth gives us the beautiful forests of the Spanish countryside right off the bat but giving it a gloomy dark feeling throughout the entire piece whether its in the house or at the labyrinth.  It creates for a visually stunning and intense story as the fantasy unfolds itself.

Another outstanding quality of Pan’s Labyrinth are the creatures.  Pan is a creative creation as he’s transformed from a normal human into a huge faun.  One of the tasks leads the audience to see the creepiest creature I think I’ve ever seen.  The details and thought placed into every step and every character is simply amazing.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a haunting fairy tale for adults and one very worth being seen.  It also introduced to me the world of Latin directors, more specifically the world of Guillermo del Toro, who can create these fantasy/surreal atmospheres while adding in a horrifying aspect to it, twisting the maybe conventional fairy tale and making it much more exciting to watch for an older audience.  The world of latin directed movies is huge and I’ve only scrapped the surface but Pan’s Labyrinth is a great way to enter into this world.