Product Description

Following a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer. Armed with only her imagination, Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, and before Ofelia can turn back, she finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #931 in DVD
• Brand: Newline
• Released on: 2007-12-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds
• Running time: 119 minutes

Features

• Following a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer. Armed with only her imagination, Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, and before Ofelia can turn

Amazon.com
Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, Jorge Luis Borges, and Guillermo del Toro's own unlimited imagination, Pan's Labyrinth is a fairytale for adults. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) may only be 12, but the worlds she inhabits, both above and below ground, are dark as anything del Toro has conjured. Set in rural Spain, circa 1944, Ofelia and her widowed mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil, Belle Epoque), have just moved into an abandoned mill with Carmen's new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi López, With a Friend like Harry). Carmen is pregnant with his son. Other than her sickly mother and kindly housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú, Y Tu Mamá También), the dreamy Ofelia is on her own. Vidal, an exceedingly cruel man, couldn't be bothered. He has informers to torture. Ofelia soon finds that an entire universe exists below the mill. Her guide is the persuasive Faun (Doug Jones, Mimic). As her mother grows weaker, Ofelia spends more and more time in the satyr's labyrinth. He offers to help her out of her predicament if she'll complete three treacherous tasks. Ofelia is willing to try, but does this alternate reality really exist or is it all in her head? Del Toro leaves that up to the viewer to decide in a beautiful, yet brutal twin to The Devil's Backbone, which was also haunted by the ghost of Franco. Though it lacks the humor of Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth represents Guillermo Del Toro at the top of his considerable game. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Astounding.
This is the way fairy tales used to be -- before they got bleached, pressed, and de-linted by half-wits trying to protect tender ears. Before they got Disney-fied. Sure, there's violence here, some of it shocking, but none of it gratuitous. Could it give a kid nightmares? Maybe. But given today's pablum stories, maybe it's about time.

Pan's Labyrinth takes us directly into the subconscious, and into the storyforms that infuse all of the great myths, fairy tales, and religions. It's a rich and satisfying stew of symbolism, mystery, and redemption. Multilayered and inspiring, it's a film you'll want to see again. It's hard not to gush, but it's been so long since a movie this good has made it into the quasi-mainstream.

What makes Pan's Labyrinth most effective is it's juxtaposition of harsh "reality" and the mysterious world that lives side by side with it. The heroine, a young girl who may carry a magical seed of immortality (the soul of god's only child who once ventured into the world of men, suffered, and died long ago), is contacted by shapeshifting fairies who lead her to a faun (much like the mythological Pan) who says she may reclaim her throne and escape the mortal world by performing three tasks. The faun in Pan's Labyrinth is every bit as complex as the mythological Pan, a creature perhaps older than the gods themselves. There's something sly, and perhaps even sexual about this elegant and almost alien faun, as he represents the forces at play inside this sensitive young girl. In fact, like every good fairy tale, all of the strange, wondrous, and chilling creatures represent facets of the subconscious, including baby-eating ghouls, flitting fairies, and gluttonous toads.

Pan's Labyrinth is a commentary on the resiliency and power of the human imagination, and takes us to the place where dreams are spun and the great heroic tale of overcoming (of the self and the world) takes root. That spark of the divine in all of us -- or at least the hope of it -- powers the great story of our lives, and we need tales like this to remind of us of the magic and transformative power of story telling. In the flickering light of the theater, like some great hearth around which we've gathered, Pan's Labyrinth took me back to my childhood, and made me think of so many of the great stories I'd read over the years -- of demonic dogs with saucer-sized eyes, of child-stealing trolls, and evil stepmothers. And, finally, of the champions who venture down into those great cracks in the Earth, where the roots of mythic trees twist and wind and the greatest treasure of all can be found: the noble, heroic, and undying spirit that lies within us.

A Haunting and Beautifully Crafted Film
First of all, this film is not suitable for children. It is intended to be an adult fairytale with a young girl as its protagonist. Everyone I know who have viewed this film has loved it, including my 75 year old father, who is not really into foreign films or art films.

The is not suitable for children for a few scenes of torture and violence. While difficult to watch, it serves to create a sense of real peril, ugliness, cruelty and evil that propels our protagonist to seek comfort in another world of grotesque beauty. She is a young girl in the midst of a brutal civil war where both sides reside under her roof, and the only reason she is safe is because her mother is pregnant by a fascist general. There is a sense that this safety is precarious and could evaporate quickly due to circumstances beyond her control.

The protagonists other world is sparked by a discovery of an old labyrinth by the old house where the general holds his position and has a doctor see to the pregnant mother's ailing health.

This other world that is created is amazingly done and is beautiful in its grotesquely Gothic way. The original score is perfect for the film with its haunting humming lullaby. The young girl is perfect young heroine that is flawed but lovable. You want her to fulfill her destiny and escape to her throne in a magical place. The rest of the cast are amazing showing the full range of humanity in a time of war from immense cruelty to amazing courage and compassion. The film itself has a great sense of pacing, almost poetic writing, and is able to keep up the feeling of suspense.

The movie is sad, beautiful, cruel, agonizing, and has kept haunting me. The film made me cry and at times took my breath away. It made me feel great to see such a well-made movie in the era of over hyped corporate films. This had the craftsmanship of an expert watchmaker.

The lullaby still lingers in my mind.

Bad Advertising, Ignorant Reviews, A Misunderstood Masterpiece
As I write this review, I am listening to the Pan's Labyrinth OST for the sixth time on the film's official website[...]. Without question in my mind, Pan's Labyrinth definitely has the best soundtrack of 2006, perhaps even 2007, though as of this review the year is not yet ended.

Like most movies, I read many reviews of Pan's Labyrinth before deciding to see it. As a long-time admirer of Roger Ebert's reviews, I took his praise of the film seriously and decided to dole out seven bucks. I missed the opening shot. Perhaps it was best that way, since it would have probably influenced my perception of the rest of the movie.

Pan's Labyrinth was advertised as a fairy tale for adults and the trailers were predominantly concerned with the handful of fanciful creatures and little Ofelia. Coincidentally, a few months later, another movie used the same advertising ploy to draw in viewers. Many complained that the trailers for Bridge To Terabithia made it out to be another Narnia and thus misleading, even though they could have saved themselves the trouble by simply reading a synopsis of the novel the movie was based on. The parallels between Pan's Labyrinth and Terabithia struck me as sign that American cinema was veering towards a precipice over which it would plummet into the abyss of Roald Dahlian theatrics. Not surprisingly, criticisms for Pan's Labyrinth and Terabithia were very similar -- the ads were misleading, there was not enough fantasy and too much reality. Again, they should have simply done some reading before going to the movie. The old addage isn't always true, ignorance isn't always bliss.

Much of the criticism surrounding Pan's Labyrinth is directed towards the violence and adverse ratio of fantasy to war, as well as use of subtitles (Americans hate reading, it seems). Both complaints show a widespread lack of understanding about some of the film's fine points and overall ignorance. With regard to the violence, Pan's Labyrinth is indeed a violent, gory movie. Seeing as how it's set during wartime, specifically WWII, it is really no different than other wartime films such as Glory or the History Channel mini-series Band Of Brothers. War is grisly and Guillermo del Toro doesn't pussyfoot away from that fact. He includes scenes of gore which, aside from that of Captain Vidal stitching his mouth back together - a sign of Vidal's stout resilience and possibly even an allusion to the Joker's smile - could hardly be considered excessive. Nobody loses a head or limb; guts don't spill out all over the ground; nails don't protrude out of eye sockets -- the level of gore in Pan's Labyrinth is hardly worth criticizing.

Captain Vidal, the main antagonist, is what many would consider truly evil. Some argue his character is unrealistically evil, that he's too sadistic. It seems people are wont to forget Newton's rule of thumb -- for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Throughout the film, action and reaction drive the military and rebels. Action, reaction. Push, pull. One thing leads to another. Captain Vidal commands a military outpost resisting Republican rebels. His father died in Morocco and the death greatly affected Vidal. He takes his frustration out on the rebels. As a military man, he knows there is a possibility he might be killed, so he yearns for an heir. Enter his wife Carmen, pregnant with Vidal's son, or so he likes to believe. The camp's physician warns against presuming the child's gender, compounding Vidal's stress. Action, reaction. Push, pull. Carmen brings her daughter Ofelia. Had she been a boy instead, perhaps Vidal would have accepted her. Or perhaps not. Action, reaction. Enter the faeries.

The beauty of this film is del Toro's weaving of reality and fantasy. As I said, I missed the first minute of the movie and as such may not have put it in the correct perspective. The first faerie appears separate from Ofelia as a mantis which follows her to the camp. One night it visits her in bed where she asks, "Did you follow me here? Are you a fairy?" at which point she shows the mantis a picture of a fairy and it turns into one, albeit with an insectoid head. Del Toro claims this was intended to distinguish his faeries from the classic beautified representations. Indeed, nothing in the fantasy realm is beautiful to the viewer, but rather grotesque and at times fearsome. Everything in the supernatural realm mirrors the world in which Ofelia lives. There is nothing wholly beautiful. Even the beauty of child-bearing is marred by pain and blood, as Carmen suffers numerous maladies as she struggles to carry Vidal's heir to term.

The supernatural never appear in the same scene as any other character except Ofelia, excluding the faerie's nocturnal visit while Carmen was fast asleep. Aware of this, it's easy for the viewer to perceive everything as being in Ofelia's head, but the two worlds collide when Ofelia puts a mandrake root under her ailing mother's bed and Carmen gradually recovers, much to everyone's amazement. But Vidal, ever distrustful of Ofelia, mistakes her actions as an attempt on the unborn heir's life. Carmen defends her daughter and after Vidal leaves the room admonishes her for believing in such superstitions. She then tosses the mandrake root into the fireplace, at which point she immediately goes into labor and soon after dies during childbirth. Without Carmen to protect Ofelia, Vidal links the young girl with a treacherous maid and has Ofelia imprisoned in her room. At wit's end, Ofelia cries out for help and is visited once more by the ambiguous faun.

It is at this point which the recurring assumption that Pan's Labyrinth is about escapism becomes fundamentally incorrect. In review after review, the fantasy realm is just that -- fantasy. It's all in Ofelia's head as a means for her to escape the harsh realities of the embattled world around her. In actuality, Ofelia not only brings the real world into the "fantasy realm," but she brings fantasy into the real. The labyrinth itself is real. The faeries are insectoid. The toad was inspired by Vidal's umbrella. The terrifying Pale Man was an amalgram of metaphors. And her home kingdom... To mention anything about that would be a spoiler. But after she has been locked in her room, the faun visits Ofelia and gives her a quest: "Fetch your brother and bring him to the labyrinth as quickly as possible." At this point fantasy and reality collide head-on. Ofelia escapes from her prison through supernatural means and kidnaps her brother, thus involving Captain Vidal in the mythical quest.

Escapism -- the desire to retreat into imaginative entertainment to escape the harshness of reality. Escapism is sitting in front of a television eight hours a day instead of going out partying. Escapism is chatting or writing lengthy reviews on Amazon instead of hanging out with friends. Escapism is definitely not what Pan's Labyrinth is about. For Ofelia, reality and fantasy are one and the same.

And when all is said and done and the credits roll, you may find yourself questioning your own beliefs. What is real? What is fantasy? And just who really had the most fanciful thoughts? Ofelia with her fairy kingdom? The rebels with their fight for freedom from national oppression? Or Captain Vidal with his unwaivering desire for a son to follow in his footsteps?