A fairy tale, but not for the faint of heart

'Pan's Labyrinth'
(El Laberinto del Fauno)

Rating: R
Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro
Running Time: 1 hour 54 minutes

Fantasies and old folk tales don't normally involve faces being repeatedly battered by the butt of a glass wine bottle so the skin rips past the hair line, exposing fleshy red blotches, and caving the skull inwards towards where the nose used to be. But then again, this isn't like most fantasies or folk tales.

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto Del Fauno), filmed in Spanish, follows the journey of a young girl, Ofelia, on her quest to become a princess of the underworld. Saying her life is difficult is being optomistic; her mother is sick during the final stages of her pregnancy and has remarried the Captain, a man who's interests lie only in his legacies, his unborn child and himself. She and her mother are brought to a military camp in the woods to be with the Captain for the birth.

At the camp, the Captain exerts brutal determination, not to merely defend, but to destroy the Spanish rebels, often exuberating torture. He is a cold and arrogant man. When he meets Ofelia for the first time, she holds out her left hand to shake his, but he soon snatches it and scolds her using the wrong hand. His ego is the only thing bigger than him. On one occasion, the doctor of the camp asks the Captain why he is so sure that his unborn child is a boy. The Captain quickly snaps back with, "Don't fuck with me."

Deeply sadened by her new father and worrying for her mother's life, Ofelia wanders into the woods during the night. A shapeshifting fairy leads her to a labyrinth only to discover a faun who tells her that she is the prophesized soul of a princess who left the underworld many years before. The faun also tells her she must complete three tasks before the full moon, otherwise her fate is to die a mortal.

The film's merits lie in its creativity. When the creatures are on screen, you don't want them to leave because their presence is so powerful. The Pale Man is something to see; he will chill your bones without even lifting an eye. At times, it's hard not to feel like a little kid again hearing bed time stories and just losing yourself, something that is far underrated.

Don't make any mistake about it, this is one gruesome movie - a person is shot in point blank range, a cheek is sliced with a kitchen knife, and a person stiches himself with a fishhook and twine. Leave the kids at home. But it's not on screen just to make people hide behind their hands and squel in the ear of the unfortunate person sitting next to them. These scenes portray the opposing values of beatuy and uglyness in fantasy and reality.

The film can be interpreted in so many different ways that it works on so many different levels. It is an exceptionaly exhilirating, adventurous, and depressing film. Prepare yourself for something you have never seen before. When it comes down to it, Pan's Labyrinth is a touching story that is told with unique mastery.