Pan's Labyrinth

Last night I saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. I read online that the Spanish title, actually translates to "The Labyrinth of the Faun". There is no Pan and apparently the director said that the faun-like character in the movie is not Pan.

Okay the movie was really scarey. As desensitized as I am, the gore made me cringe in parts and the strange white beast depicted in the paintings as a child eating monster on its own walls, was terrifying to look at. It sat motionless at a great table and I was riddled with anxiety waiting for it to move.

The movie is about a young girl who must fufill tests inorder to return to the magical world she is descended from. She must complete 3 tasks as the world she was born into crumbles around her. In the middle of the Spanish Civil War, our young heroin accompanies he mother to a Mill that has been set up as a military fort. She is forced to live with widowed mother who remarries a tyrant Captain. Most of the movie, you just want that Captain to die.

Although I enjoyed the movie, the entire time you are just waiting for Felia to get into the magical world. The movie is almost more about the rebellion than the labyrinth.

I won't give away any of the surprises. But I will say that ending was satisfactory although not exactly a child's ending. In whole, this is somewhat a grims fairytale. I did enjoy it however. The pace of the movie is well-balanced between the reality of the war and fantasy of the labyrinth quests.