PAN'S LABYRINTH -- Guillermo del Toro, dir

©2006
studio: New Line Home Video
production company: Tequila Gang, Esperanto Filmoj, Estudios Picasso, OMM, Sententia Entertainment, Telecinco
director: Guillermo del Toro
cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, Doug jones, Ariadna Gil, Alex Angulo, Manolo Solo, Cesar Vea, Roger Casamajor, Ivan Massague, Gonzalo Uriarte, Eusebio Lazaro, Juanjo Cuclon
screenplay: Guillermo del Toro

In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world. [from IMDb.com]

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Great title. Awesome advertising. The fantasy elements look unsurpassed. Lousy movie.

I understand that the Nazis were bad. I get it that during bad times children retreat into their own fantasy worlds, but this movie couldn't decide which story to tell ... the bad Nazi story or the children's fantasy story. Other movies have done this and done it well: Chronicles of Narnia and even Bedknobs and Broomsticks come immediately to mind.

I think that this could have been a much more interesting movie if a little less time was spent showing us just how bad the Nazi captain was. Once we get it, we understand that the girl needs an escape.

Many complain about the violence. Violence in a movie doesn't bother me, but it seemed often unnecessary. Again, show us once, we get it. *SPOILER ALERT - DON'T READ BEYOND HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING* The fact that the captain kills his stepdaughter at the end, doesn't need to be set-up by constant violence. He's a Nazi, and that still bears a lot of stereotyped violence in an audience's mind.

I want to like this movie, but I can't. I keep waiting for more fantasy, and it isn't there.