Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #295 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-21
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 119 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 humour of Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth represents Guillermo Del Toro at the top of his considerable game. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Synopsis
Accompanied by her parents, Ofelia moves from a large Spanish city to a more rural area in the North of the country. Faced with the upheaval of moving home, an abusive stepfather and the general unpleasantness surrounding Franco's victory in 1944, Ofelia enters an imaginary world of creatures and demons, in a bid to escape. From Guillermo del Torro, the visionary director of THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE and CRONOS comes this frightening, yet fantastical film.

Customer Reviews

An Achingly Sad Tale...
Really, this film is just wonderful. But don't expect to see a 'fantasy' film in the accepted sense -- the real story is about the Spanish Civil War, and the relationship between Ofelia, her mother and the inhuman Capitan Vidal (played with gimlet-eyed perfection by Sergi Lopez.) There is an amazing involvement created between the viewer and the characters -- especially on the side of the rebels. But again, be warned, there are no fairy-tale endings in this story -- even though it has a fairy-tale ending.

life under a despot
a brilliant evocation of life lived under a dictatorship (Franco's Spain), as viewed through a childs eyes and imagination.
Probably the best film I have seen for many years, truly eye-opening Cinema!!!

Pan's Labyrinth - No 10 - All Time List 2008
Guillermo del Toro has all of a sudden become on of my favourite film makers, I'd never heard of him until I saw this film. Now I've seen most film he has had an association with. The best however, is undoubtedly Pan's Labyrinth - which is the best fairytale you will ever see.

A fairytale about a girl who wants to be a Princess - Sounds like something out of a Walt Disney script - however this is one movie you don't want your young ones to see. This is a dark, and in places very brutal movie (very brutal and certainly not for the squeamish nor suitable for a young child). Set in Civil War torn Spain there are political elements (discussing a lot of Spanish Franco themes) with the story running consecutively and inter-woven with the fantasies of a young Girl Ofelia who has moved with her Mother to live with her Father-in-Law (Captain Vidal - possibly in the top ten movie villains ever).
I won't ruin too much more (when people write reviews that ruin the story please but spoilers warning first!) but along the way you get to meet some kind loving individuals and some at the other end of the spectrum.

Magnificently atmospheric, you'll be on the edge of your seat one second and then cowering away from the screen the next, you won't want this to end as the fantasy world of Ofelia is quite beautiful as is the whole ending of the movie - certainly you'll miss things the first time around and will be back for a second viewing to only heighten the viewing pleasure of this film.
Brilliantly acted - especially the characters of Ofelia, Carmen and Vidal.

Ignore idiots like Mr Lawman below who disregard this film because (and I quote) "On top of all this it's not even in English"... Oh the horror...

Pan's Labyrinth is dark, brutal, beautiful and unmissable.