I have seen the much talked about movie Pan’s Labyrinth and I must say that it was not what I was expecting. It in fact was much, much better. I was aware that the movie was in Spanish, and I had been told that it was spectacular. Hell, it has a 96% rating on Rottintomatoes.com. The highest praise I can give this movie is that it exceeded all expectations to the point where all the hype I’ve heard was nothing compared to actually seeing this film. It is, quite simply, stunning.
I’m familiar with some of Guillermo Del Toro’s other works, namely Blade II and Hellboy. In both it is plain to see that he shows some real talent behind the camera. Blade II was no masterpiece, but it was visually interesting, and overall entertaining. Hellboy was the step up from that, where one can see that movie and know that the director cared for the film and enjoyed making it. Pan’s Labyrinth will come to be THE film associated with Guillermo Del Toro. It is up for several Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, and is the only fantasy movie to have that honor. He has taken his visually appealing style and combined it with a masterful screenplay (also written by Del Toro) and crafted one of the best movies I’ve seen.
The basic plot of the movie is that Ofelia and her mother leave their home to join her mother’s new husbad, a captain in the facist army during World War II. While there she stumbles across a labyrinth, where she meets Pan (descriptive title isn’t it?). Pan tells her she is the long lost daughter of the King of the Underworld (not hell or anything like that). To prove that she is worthy, she must perform three tasks. That’s the basic plot, and it seems pretty simple. There’s much more going on that I don’t want to spoil.
The actors do an amazing job of creating their characters. Even the Captain has more going on in his eyes that shows you he isn’t just a murderer. The standout performance easily goes to young Ivana Baquero, who plays Ofelia. She’s only 12 years old and does a much better job at conveying emotion and creating a believable character than most actors in Hollywood. This is a good thing considering she more or less carries the movie.
While the rest of the movie is terrific, the real highlights of the film are the look and the tone. There is very little happiness in this movie, and the lack of bright colors and dreary setting match perfectly. This also helps to contrast the fantasy set pieces peppered throughout, where things have a bit more color, but not Lord of the Rings bright. However, at times this movie can be as brutal as it is beautiful. There are scenes of intense violence that, while not at Sin City level of being over-the-top, are just as vicious. I may be desensitized to violence, but seeing a man’s cheek sliced open even makes ME cringe. It isn’t excessive though, and is actually used sparingly.
The movie is rated R for “graphic violence and some language.” Graphic violence it has, no question. The language I’ll have to take their word for it seeing as how my Spanish is limited to Hola, Adios, counting, and El Burro. I will also say there is a bit of disturbing imagery along with the violence, particularly in the Pale Man character (played by Doug Jones, who also plays Pan). For those who haven’t seen it, picture an emaciated, pale man with skin hanging off the bone. He has no nose, but two holes in the middle of his head for nostrils, and he has no eyes, nor sockets to keep them. Instead, he puts eyeballs into the palms of his hands and uses those to see. Pretty freaky.
I’m going to steal a well-known rating system for judging this movie and give it four stars (****). I’ll even go one better and say it has the highest recommendation I can give a film. It ranks right up there with the greats, in my opinion. It’s not for everyone, but if you want to see something orignal, emotional, and beautiful, do yourself a favor and see this movie.
. Frontman Robert Schneider proved once again you don’t have to be “cool” to lead a rock band (it’s hard to be cool when you’re trying to do a guitar power stance in flip flops…). At one point he used a beer bottle to fret his guitar, which would have been cool had the bottle not been full. Oops. 
. I should warn you though. Where Knocked Up was profane, but showed situations from men’s and women’s perspectives, so women could probably relate to it, Superbad is very profane and is TOTALLY from a man’s perspective. So I’m not sure how much the ladies are going to appreciate it.
. Yet instead of feeling disappointment when I left the theater I felt nothing but exhilaration. Liman had managed to make me not care about the changes from the book by creating a different type of action movie: one that combined well-rounded characters and drama with impeccably executed chases and fights.
The Good Shepherd is a rare breed of movie: a spy movie with no action. Unlike 
