Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Review

"You won't be the first pig I've gutted!"

-Mercedes

Several years after the Spanish Civil War, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), move to the headquarters of Carmen's new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi López), who is charge of hunting down rebels.  As violence and death rage around the headquarters, Ofelia finds herself drawn to an old labyrinth nearby, where she meets the Faun (Doug Jones), who tells her that she is the reincarnation of a princess of the underworld.  In order to return to what was once her kingdom, Ofelia will have to perform three dangerous tasks without drawing the attention of Vidal, but even if she can complete the tasks, can she trust the Faun?

What Sucks:

I'll be honest, I liked, but didn't love Pan's Labyrinth.  It was overhyped by people telling me to watch it.  I think it's overrated and was pretty disappointed by the film.  I was told that it was right up my alley with how weird it is, like a dark Alice in Wonderland, and while I liked those elements there wasn't nearly enough of it.  I was really surprised by how much of the focus was on the war elements and how little time we actually spent in the weird stuff.  That was really disappointing for me.

Pan's Labyrinth felt like two very separate movies and, apart from the theme of unquestionable authority, I didn't feel enough cohesion between the two stories.  I think the stories are both good on their own, but they don't work that well together.  I really wish more of the movie had been dealing with the weird underworld stuff.  Take the Pale Man (Doug Jones) for instance.  We only get him in one sequence.  I wish we could have gotten way more with him.  Don't get me wrong, I liked the war storyline, but it didn't feel like the movie I was promised and I would have liked the film more if it had focused on the weird stuff.

There are a couple of really stupid character decisions that drove me up the wall.  When in the domain of the Pale Man, Ofelia decides to eat a couple of grapes, even though she was explicitly warned not to eat or drink anything or she could lose her life.  Why on Earth would she eat the grapes?!  It was incredibly stupid and made zero sense.  Ofelia is shown to be a clever character, so I can't understand why she would do this.  It was suggested to me that she may have been enchanted into eating the fruit.  If that's the case than the filmmakers needed to do a better job of showing that.  Put a glazed look in her eyes or something.

The other decision that bothered me came from Mercedes (Maribel Verdú).  When she escapes from the clutches of Vidal, she stabs him several times and threatens to gut him if he hurts Ofelia.  Why didn't she just kill him right there?  It makes absolutely zero sense.  This is a common complaint I have all the time in slasher movies, when you knock the villain down, stab him until he's dead!  This can easily apply to other movies as well.  Mercedes has the chance to take this evil dude out and, for no good reason, she doesn't do it!  I need character decisions to make sense if I'm going to enjoy a film and these simply don't make sense.

Finally, a minor complaint, some of the CGI hasn't aged very well, but, again, that's minor compared to my earlier problems with this film.

What Work:

Now, overall, I did like Pan's Labyrinth.  The weird stuff that was in the film was genuinely great.  The Faun, the Pale Man, and the frog were all awesome and had excellent designs.  Doug Jones gives the Faun and the Pale Man such interesting movements and mannerisms.  The way the Faun delivers his lines is fascinating to watch.  I just want to watch him give a Ted Talk.  

The frog was gnarly and disgusting in an awesome way and the Pale Man, who I have seen images of, was just as frightening and disturbing as I hoped he'd be.  I just wanted more of him.

I did not know this movie was rated R going in, so I was taken aback by some of the gorier moments.  Watching Vidal beat a guy's face in was a great way to set up the villain and I was totally taken aback by Carmen getting out of bed covered in blood.  The horror elements of this film worked great.

Finally, Sergi López is truly a fantastic villain.  As I said above, watching him beat a guy to death is a solid way to introduce a villain.  He's a brutal, evil character, yet we understand him and he gets some solid development.  The filmmakers never try to justify this man, but they aren't lazy with him either. Especially satisfying is his ultimate fate.  Yes, he dies, but more importantly, his legacy is taken away from him.  He worked so hard to have a son to pass on his name and legacy to, but that is stripped away and the look on his face is oh so satisfying.

Verdict:

If I had never heard anything about Pan's Labyrinth and went in with zero expectations, I think I would have liked it more.  The horror elements were solid, the creature designs were great, and the performances by Sergi López and Doug Jones are phenomenal, but it really felt like two different movies that never meshed for me, there are some extremely stupid character decisions, and some of the CGI hasn't aged well.  Overall, I would still say this movie has got it going on, but I was still disappointed and underwhelmed.

 7/10: Good