Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is basically a childlike fairy tale complete with shape-shifting fairies and mythical monsters-but beneath its shiny innocence lays a tale of brutality that features an astounding amount of maturity, violence and emotional complexity. The story starts off in a seemingly uncomplicated fashion-the camera lingering on shots of the forest and other beautiful sights (including the first appearance of a fairy)-gradually this fades away as the story plunges into darker depths and when the situation demands for realism or bloodshed, the director doesn't shy away but fulfills this with naked, unapologetic grit. The special effects as well as the music arrangement works remarkably well with the overall development-despite portraying cruelty or sadism the screen is still livid with resonance and color, for the most it remains ingenuously childlike while its story wanders into its war-related subplot. The performances are top notch but nothing extraordinary, with the unfortunate exception of Ivana Baquero (Ofelia) who must probably be the worst child actor (to have been stupid enough to wave off her lack of talent or screen presence, courageously taking on a main character) because her expressions almost never cross beyond one, unvaried look of total blurriness, and whenever she’s supposed to express anxiety or fear, she does this by breathing heavily and pretty much nothing else. It’s clear she’s untrained and very conscious about performing around cameras and lights, making her emotional breadth impaired and confidence shattered. Aside from this, the film looses its focus and solidity somewhere in the middle-it’s said that Ofelia needs to complete three tasks before she is crowned princess, and after two of these take place the story takes a long,long,long break into the subplot before returning to the third challenge at the end. For a while it felt as if the writers had changed their minds halfway through finishing the script, briefly contemplating a full-blown combat drama but then for some reason deciding against it-the power of the film’s take on fantasy is at first firmly enhanced by stunning visuals and the balance it first strikes with its adult themes, but when the politics and adult conflicts are given too much attention this balance immediately disappears and so does everything that was horrific, heartfelt and cohesive about the movie. Honestly I was a bit disappointed when the movie ended because my expectations were amazingly high when I first walked in, due to RT’s rating (96%!), the many good reviews of the movie I had read, and most significantly, the enormous Oscar buzz surrounding this film. Alas Pan’s Labyrinth, to me at least, was something of an exciting ride that got tiresome halfway through its lengthy run-finally I felt that the film’s various strengths couldn't make it any less forgettable or incoherent.

Random Trivia: Don't expect Malaysian cinemas to show this anytime soon.The film was banned in Malaysia by the Malaysia Censorship Board due to excessive violent scenes.I'd like to be given the choice to see whichever films i want without some undeserving organization shamelessly electing themselves as the country's moral compass-then again,can't ask much from a government that mistakes blind cooperation for something close to valuable.