Reviewed by Max Foizey.

Release Date: January 19, 2007
Directed By: Guillermo del Toro
Starring:Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Doug Jones
Rating: R

Most of Director Guillermo del Toro's films have left me cold. "Mimic" could have been scarier, or at least more fun, "Hellboy" fouled up a great character and premise, and his "Blade 2" was a bloated mess. (A special disappointment for me, as I enjoyed the first "Blade" film quite a bit.) He remains a halfway interesting filmmaker for his vampire flick "Cronos" and for "El Espinazo del Diablo" ( "The Devil's Backbone" ).

His latest, "El Laberinto del Fauno" ("Pan's Labyrinth" ) he says is a 'spiritual sequel" to "Devil's Backbone," but not only is "Labyrinth" better than "Backbone," it's the best work of del Toro's career. I wasn't expecting much, and I was more than blown away. This is a remarkable, intelligent, engrossing film.

The setting is mid-forties Spain, where we find twelve year-old Ofelia (the amazing Ivana Baquero) moving with her very pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) to a remote area to live with her new stepfather, the abusive Captain Vidal (an altogether unlikable Sergi López). Vidal is charged with ridding the area of a small rebel militia, and cares only for the well-being of his unborn son. His new wife and the girl are afterthoughts.

Ofelia loves fairy tales, and one day sees a fairy in the guise of an insect. This fairy does its best White Rabbit routine and leads Ofelia to a labyrinth, where she meets a Faun of questionable motive (Doug Jones, the Pan of the title), who tells her she is not human, but a Princess, and she must complete three tasks to return to her rightful place at her true Father, the King's, side.

We follow Ofelia through these tasks as her fantasy world intertwines with the wartime horrors around her. As her stepfather bludgeons noses with the hilt of his gun, Ofelia encounters a monstrous toad and a child-eating monster known as the Pale Man. (also played by Doug Jones). The Pale Man sequence is the best of the film, as we see a motionless monster sitting at a banquet table hosting a feast Ofelia is forbidden to eat. Of course, she takes some grapes. Bad idea. Instead of Wonderland, imagine if Alice had journeyed to "Silent Hill."

You'll notice elements from various fairy tales, as well cues from films like "The Neverending Story," and even "The Shining," but in the end this is still a wholly original work. Ivana Baquero turns in the best performance of a young actor I've seen since Natalie Portman in Luc Beson's "Leon." Sergi López is almost inhuman as the evil stepfather, without crossing into parody.

The decision to make this an R rated film is important. If you took the very adult wartime story out of it, then the proper audience wouldn't have seen the film. This is a fairy tale for adults, not unlike Neil Gaiman's "Coraline." It's important for adults to remember why children cling to fantasy. Sometimes it's the best way for children to deal with tough circumstances. When I was growing up, Spider-Man was my backbone. I figured if ol' Peter Parker could make it thought bad times, I could too. Ofelia, totally powerless in the real world, is empowered in her labyrinth, free to find her real Father.

To me, this film is about a child dealing with horrible situations through imagination. I don't think the fantasy portions are 'real' but it's pure and beautiful how these episodes afford Ofelia a way to feel empowered to make her situation better. The final moments of the film are haunting, and I have to give del Toro credit for not playing it safe.

There has yet to be a proper adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's work, but del Toro has expressed interest in filming the epic story "At the Mountains of Madness." After seeing the imagination of "Pan's Labyrinth" I couldn't hope for a better director for that project. In the meantime I recommend losing yourself in this "Labyrinth."

In addition to hosting 'Max on Movies' on Sunday nights at 7pm on 97.1 FM Talk, Max appears weekly on the Dave Glover Show Fridays at 5pm. A member of the Saint Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, Max has written about film and theatre for various print and Web media, and appeared as guest critic on various nationally syndicated radio shows. Max lives in Missouri and yet is a diehard Miami Dolphins fan. Max is busy working on his next project, "The Collect Call of Cthulhu."