Pan's Labyrinth

Anybody recognize this creepy bastard? No it's not some poor guy jigsaw mutilated it saw 43. They're on 43 now right? Well anyway this guy, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, is from Pan's labyrinth. Fun fact I did not know how to spell labyrinth till I watched this movie.

So then plot run down, guaranteed spoiler-free.

The movie opens with a little girl named Ofelia and her mother moving to their new home with the captain, The man Ofelia's mother married after the death of her father and the dad of the as yet unborn son Ofelia's mother is currently carrying in her belly. The captain is, go figure, a captain in the Spanish army fighting against the rebel uprising. It's quickly revealed Ofelia want's nothing to do with the captain quickly reminding everyone that her father was once a tailor and is now dead when the refer to the captain as her dad. It's revealed in short order however that Ofelia is not just a little girl but is in fact Princess Moanna, the daughter of the ruler of the underworld. However, before she can be allowed into the underworld she must complete three tasks before the full moon. The movie the follows her completion of the tree tasks as well as her life as a young child forced to deal with a new environment she doesn't want to be in, as issues arise with her mother and the rebels put pressure on the Captain and his men.

Overall is it good? Sadly yes, it's good. This is sad cause it's only good. There are enough well done points here for it to have been great but it's not. The costume design of the mythical creature, such as Mr. Eyeballs-in-hands above. And a couple time during the movie there are some underlying plot threads that are teased at, Like the scene during a dinner where Ofelia's mom is asked how she met the captain that left me wondering how that really went down and toying with the concept that the captain was somehow behind Ofelia's father's death. And a scene near the end of the movie where Ofelia see something magical and then another character shows up and doesn't see it which leads me to question if Ofelia is actually hallucinating and fantasizing things she finds more pleasing that her reality, fans of Suckerpunch will understand this concept very well. Those of you who don't know Suckerpunch....... shame on you. Fuck Pan's labyrinth go watch Suckerpunch, it's fuckin amazing.

Anyway yeah overall it's still good but I'm disappointed that it's not as good as it could have been. And one final point the guy up there Mr. Eyeballs-in-hands, I swear he was used in like every single piece of promotional material for this movie, but is only actually in the movie for like 15 min tops, Half of which he spends asleep.

6 Mr. Eyeballs-in-hands out of 10