by M. Teresa Blaylock

Created on: February 16, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

I was very excited about getting to see this movie. I did find the title to be a bit misleading, however. "El Laberinto del Fauno" translates from the Spanish into "The Faun's Labyrinth," not "Pan's Labyrinth." I was expecting a movie about the Great God Pan of Greek mythology, not a faun. However - once that misconception was taken care of, I settled down to enjoy the movie.

What I particularly enjoyed about this film is the way harsh reality was mixed with the darkness of a traditional fairy tale - brutality and beauty in both worlds, all mixed together. There was one part I had a hard time believing. Given the strength of the main character, the little girl, I found it unreasonable that she would eat the grapes after being forbidden to do so, especially after having read all those fairy tales.

For a low-budget movie, the special effects were quite good. The monster with the eyeballs in its hands was terrifying. The acting was excellent, also. It was an intense movie throughout, with little or no comic relief, but it was very well-done.

I found the ending to be perfect. If you haven't seen it, I don't want to ruin it for you, but I was left with a beautiful feeling of happiness mixed with such sadness for those (characters) who couldn't know or understand what beauty lay in blood. I don't recommend taking your children to see it - at least not until they're older; but it was a truly magical movie, that I will have to put on my top 20 movie list.

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