Pan's Labyrinth
Academy Award × 3
Rent/Purchase
In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun who reveals that she may be a lost princess from an underground kingdom. To return to her true father, she must complete a series of surreal and perilous tasks that blur the line between reality and fantasy.
What critics thought
One of the most acclaimed films of its decade, Pan's Labyrinth weaves the brutality of post-Civil War Spain into a dark fantasy with such discipline and visual invention that critics largely found it overwhelming rather than merely impressive. The near-universal praise centers on Guillermo del Toro's ability to make the two worlds — war-torn reality and mythological underworld — feel morally and emotionally continuous rather than escapist. The one recurring dissent is structural: a handful of critics felt the film's extraordinary parts never quite fuse into a unified whole.
“an epic, poetic vision in which the grim realities of war are matched and mirrored by a descent into an underworld populated by fearsomely beautiful monsters”
Mark Kermode·The Observer
“one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is anchored so firmly in the reality of war”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“a fairy tale of such potency and awesome beauty that it reconnects the adult imagination to the primal thrill and horror of the stories that held us spellbound as children”
Jim Emerson·Chicago Sun-Times
“the excitement is tangible”
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Genres
Drama, Fantasy, War
Cast & Crew
DirectorGuillermo del Toro
StarringIvana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil
ComposerJavier Navarrete
Pan's Labyrinth
Academy Award × 3
In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun who reveals that she may be a lost princess from an underground kingdom. To return to her true father, she must complete a series of surreal and perilous tasks that blur the line between reality and fantasy.
What critics thought
One of the most acclaimed films of its decade, Pan's Labyrinth weaves the brutality of post-Civil War Spain into a dark fantasy with such discipline and visual invention that critics largely found it overwhelming rather than merely impressive. The near-universal praise centers on Guillermo del Toro's ability to make the two worlds — war-torn reality and mythological underworld — feel morally and emotionally continuous rather than escapist. The one recurring dissent is structural: a handful of critics felt the film's extraordinary parts never quite fuse into a unified whole.
“an epic, poetic vision in which the grim realities of war are matched and mirrored by a descent into an underworld populated by fearsomely beautiful monsters”
Mark Kermode·The Observer
“one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is anchored so firmly in the reality of war”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“a fairy tale of such potency and awesome beauty that it reconnects the adult imagination to the primal thrill and horror of the stories that held us spellbound as children”
Jim Emerson·Chicago Sun-Times
“the excitement is tangible”
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Genres
Drama, Fantasy, War
Cast & Crew
DirectorGuillermo del Toro
StarringIvana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil
ComposerJavier Navarrete
Rent/Purchase