Here it is, del Toro's heavy hitter, his magnum opus, and a film I've been excited to review ever since I reviewed Cronos the other week, in fact since I started this blog, it would happen eventually, let's begin. Pan's Labyrinth is, like Cronos and The Devil's Backbone is a smaller, more personal film, which centres on a girl who is, like Jesus and Carlos before her, is in a very bad place, this time it's a mill under the control of Francoist soldiers led by Captain Vidal. Something that should be mentioned is the characters, of which this film has a few good ones, first off we have Ofelia, who is a brilliant character in my opinion, she's just a good character, she's likeable, caring, strong, but not a rock either, she has some emotional moments, and they really form a rounded and brilliant character. In addition to her you have Mercedes, who is also a very good character, she's a maquis informer, and her and the doctor help the local resistance from under Vidal's nose, their story is less interesting, but still really cool, and it gets even better as the film comes to a head. Vidal is a great villain, the guy is just scum, some of the things he does in the film are utterly horrid, and del Toro even went to the effort of making his gloves extra squeaky, he's not the most unhinged movie villain I've ever seen, but he's pretty unhinged. Of course then there's Fauno, who is probably the most interesting character in the film, for starters he's creepy as shit, with his chicken legs and his creaky sounds, it's impossible to tell what his motivations are, it's hard to tell if you should or shouldn't trust him, or if you should just run. The only character I can't say really stuck with me was Ofelia's mum, she was just eclipsed by everyone else around her and didn't really do much. The film's story is very simple on paper, but with all the little things going on in the mill and the side plot of the resistance, it's a plot that's very interesting and actually pretty creative, and as things really start to kick into gear, it just gets better and better, the last 3rd or so of the film is amazing.
This being del Toro's masterpiece, you really should expect some creative and cool looking imagery and effects, and to be brutally honest, this is by far del Toro's most beautiful film. Obviously this film has amazing effects, everyone has seen the pale man, he's the guy with eye balls in his hands, but what's amazing is how few of the film's effects were made with CG, obviously some were, like the fairies, but the giant toad is only CG about half the time, the pale man and Fauno are both Doug Jones in a suit, with minor CG enhancements here and there. So the practical effects look amazing, and impressively so does the CG, the more obvious ones look great, like the fairies and the toad, but by far the best ones are the ones you probably won't see, they're there, they're subtle, and I'm not going to spoil the fun. Pan's Labyrinth also has some beautiful imagery, again, some of it is subtle, but others are both incredible and completely disturbing, this film probably has the biggest number of deeper meanings in a del Toro film, and this film has a few, again, I'm not going to spoil the fun. Design is also top, not just with the Doug Jones', but in the sets, in the CG, costume, this film is just all round a joy to look at, even if you'll lose sleep from a good amount of it. It really helps in some of the heavier scenes, of which the film has a good number, I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go in specifics, just know that this film has some really heavy stuff.
You should have seen this coming, but now I'm saying it, Pan's Labyrinth is a masterpiece, it's a film I genuinely can't find a fault in, and it's a film that will leave you with goose bumps and hit you where you live, Pan's Labyrinth is a must watch for sure.
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