“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) by Guillermo del Toro

Finally saw this film last night. Might post a review for Dan in a little while. At any rate, it’s a very good film, although it is not the masterpiece some of its ardent supporters claim it is. Visually, it is outstanding, one of the best films I have seen, and it is much better than The Lord of the Rings film trilogy or the Harry Potter film series are. It displays some actual creativity, and I certainly want to see some of del Toro’s other films after seeing this.

The main problems are a rather one-dimensional and uninteresting villain and an overall lack of depth. Despite the fact that many people have questioned the film’s reality, the ending makes it quite obvious- I will not spoil it for those who haven’t seen the film.

It also gets a bit stereotypical and annoyingly preachy with its portrayal of the Spanish Republicans as pure, unfettered good, and the Fascists as pure, unfettered evil at times. Doubtlessly, the Republicans were in the right, and the Fascists in the wrong, but this film’s portrayal is a bit overly simplistic. It also hurts that the war scenes are seen from an apparently omniscient POV, rather than that of the girl. Had it been from her subjective viewpoint, it would have mitigated it.

Nonetheless, this film, while not a great film overall, does show some significant potential for del Toro, and already he’s shown that he’s a significantly better film director than Spielberg and Peter Jackson are. Let us just hope that he does not fall into the same trap that George Lucas and Christopher Nolan fell into, and squander his potential by producing generic and formulaic Hollywood garbage, despite showing early potential. Keep your fingers crossed.