Movie Review

For a well done, fantastical romp that requires you to actually pay attention, rent Pan's Labrynth. I will warn you, you better not mind subtitles. Of course if you know the smallest bit of Spanish you really don't need them. It's a movie set in Spain during WWII. Spain is going through a Civil War and a Tailor's widow and her pre-teen daughter are off to their new home. The mother, tired of being a widow, married the Military Captain that her deceased husband used to make uniform's for. She is now pregnant with the Captain's son, and that's pretty much all he cares about. The whole blood line thing....thus the reason for the Civil war.....aren't Caste systems a bitch??? The Captain is cruel and tyrannical and very narcissitic. The daughter, Ofelia, refuses to call him Father and pretty much doesn't understand why her mother married this monster. She sees a strange insect (kind of resembling a Walking Stick) that leads her to this old stone Labrynth on the grounds of this Mill that the Captain lives in. The insect turns into a Fairy and leads the girl to an underground cave where she meets a Faun; a very sinister looking Faun. He tells her she is a Princess from the "other side" or Faerie if you read any Gaiman and that to prove she is worthy to inherit her kingdom she must do three tasks by the next Full Moon. She crawls through the mud in the innards of an old tree to slay the toad that is making the tree die. She does this after getting a new dress from her mother to attend a dinner party that she doesn't really want to go to. She slays the toad, but it takes her most of the day and when she comes back, the dress is ruined and she can't attend the party. It's things like this that make you think if the Fairy world is real in the movie, or is this just the girls way of coping. It's definitely worth a watch.