Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Rank 3 Reviews

Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)

The Mexican-born director Guillermo Del Toro always makes exciting, curious blends of horror and fairy tales, and, like Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton, often draws inspiration from the childlike. He has quickly established a singular visual style, filled ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

2006 was already a banner year for Mexican filmmakers with exemplary year-end releases from Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men") and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel"). And now comes Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" (Picturehouse), a ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

New York Magazine (David Edelstein)

It also centers on a literal rebirth-on the advanced pregnancy of a black fugee, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), whose best hope of survival rests with the fishes' ability to deliver her to a supersecret international organization. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at New York Magazine (David Edelstein)

Movies 101 (Robert Glatzer)

Is this to be the decade, or at least the year, of the Mexicans? With Alfonso Cuaron's astounding "Children of Men," Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel," and now Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" getting notice and awards all over, it certainly ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Movies 101 (Robert Glatzer)

Movie-Vault.com (Mel Valentin)

Ofelia remains alone and lonely (children her age are nowhere to be found), retreating into her books and her imagination. Only the head housekeeper, Mercedes (Maribel VerdÃº), makes any effort to befriend Ofelia. Wandering alone at night, Ofelia ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Movie-Vault.com (Mel Valentin)

Wolf Entertainment Guide (William Wolf)

Del Toro soars in visualization of Ofelia's thoughts and dreams, as well as in depicting the labyrinth into which she wanders as her mysterious refuge near the abandoned old mill that the captain has set up as his headquarters. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Wolf Entertainment Guide (William Wolf)

Talking Pictures (UK)

Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth has been called a fairy tale, but it is one without the color, warmth, or wonder we normally associate with films of this type. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Talking Pictures (UK)

Frank's Reel Reviews

Starting with the much-heralded Cronos and continuing though The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy and now Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro has honed his skills of using man-made evil and wrong-doing as a symbol of horror. In Pan's Labyrinth, man's evil is ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Frank's Reel Reviews

New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)

The fantasy lives of children have always fascinated adult storytellers but rarely have the real and imagined worlds of a child been fused with the sublime and scary perfection of Mexican writer-director Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)

TotalFilm

A young girl draws a magic chalk door on her bedroom wall and pushes it open. She steps into a banquet hall, where a slumbering monster sits at a table loaded with food. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at TotalFilm

Cutting Edge

gemak deze twee verhaallijnen door elkaar en behandelt beiden met evenveel aandacht. Hij wisselt scÃ¨nes uit het oorlogsverhaal af met die uit de sprookjesachtige mythologie en laat ze af en toe zelfs samenlopen. Het hoogtepunt van de samenvloeiing van ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Cutting Edge

MTV (Kurt Loder)

The dream horrors of the labyrinth mirror the human horrors of the world above in the way that classic fairy tales, in their unexpurgated form, always have. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at MTV (Kurt Loder)

Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)

I wish I could say Pan's Labyrinth was one of my favorite movies of the year because it certainly contains one of my favorite sequences of 2006. It happens right about the middle of the movie. A young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) finds herself in a ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)

The Film Asylum (Stuart Crawford)

...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at The Film Asylum (Stuart Crawford)

DVDActive (Chris Gould)

After the death of her husband, Ofelia's mother has remarried to Vidal (Sergi Lopez), a fascistic captain in Franco's army. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at DVDActive (Chris Gould)

Variety (Justin Chang)

There's plenty of blood -- both literal and figurative -- coursing through the veins of Pan's Labyrinth, a richly imagined and exquisitely violent fantasy from writer-director Guillermo del Toro. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Variety (Justin Chang)

Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno), a masterpiece of fantasia by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, is at turns exquisitely beautiful, horrifying, and heart-wrenchingly sweet. Del Toro's ability to balance all these conflicting tones in a film of ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)

Movies for Guys

I didn't think I'd live long enough to be able to describe a movie about a young girl and faerie creatures as being more sadistic than even Rob Zombie could stand. I was wrong. Pan's Labyrinth is easily one of the most visually creative and well ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Movies for Guys

Bullz-Eye.com

Set during the violent aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, the story begins as the young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is sent to live with her pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadne Gil), and her new husband, the sadistic Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). While Carmen ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Bullz-Eye.com

The Independent (Anthony Quinn)

Guillermo del Toro's audacious fable is almost two movies in one, but its handling is so assured that the compound of fairy tale and realism becomes all of a piece. Set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War (as was Del Toro's ghost story, The Devil's ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at The Independent (Anthony Quinn)

Maxim (Pete Hammond)

A haunting, but beautifully conceived mix of fantasy and reality that is like no other film released in 2006 - or any other year. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Maxim (Pete Hammond)

eye WEEKLY

Like the director's 2001 ghost story The Devil's Backbone, this gorgeously designed but darkly hued fable is set during the Spanish Civil War, Guillermo Del Toro again suggesting that the evils of fascism trump anything the supernatural can muster up. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at eye WEEKLY

filmcritic.com (Chris Barsanti)

In 1944, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a bookish 12-year-old arrives with her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) at an isolated farmhouse in northern Spain. Here, amidst the dark woods and quietly subservient peasants, her new stepfather Vidal (Sergi ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at filmcritic.com (Chris Barsanti)

Newsweek (David Ansen)

Suspended between the brutally graphic and flights of lyrical fancy, Pan's Labyrinth unfolds with the confidence of a classical fable, one that paradoxically feels both timeless and startlingly new. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Newsweek (David Ansen)

Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)

By juxtaposing inhuman military brutality with the idealism and imagery of a fairy tale, del Toro integrates the two, creating a credible tension between both. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)

Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)

Del Toro's obvious strength here is his forceful vision of a night-time fantasy and his ability to bring that vision to pulsating life. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)

Perihelion Journal (Jay Antani)

a captivating, albeit unstable, blend of anti-Fascist social commentary and a visually sumptuous childhood fable ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Perihelion Journal (Jay Antani)

Juicy Cerebellum (Alex Sandell)

Guillermo del Toro is one of the best in the business. Starting with The Devil's Backbone, moving through Blade II and Hellboy and into Pan's Labyrinth -- the screenwriter/director can seemingly do no wrong. Mr. del Toro doesn't film a motion-picture ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Juicy Cerebellum (Alex Sandell)

<dnb@dca.net>

Squeaking in amidst much hullabaloo for year-end Oscar(r) consideration--and playing to a standing-room-only art-house crowd who had no doubt gotten a heady whiff of some of that pre-awards hoopla--the fantasmagorical Spanish-language film "Pan's ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at <dnb@dca.net>

Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)

Every now and then, a movie comes along that is so extraordinary -- so breathtaking in its artistic ambition, so technically accomplished, so morally expansive, so fully realized -- that it defies the usual critical blather. Just see it, you want to tell ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Washington Post (Ann Hornaday)

Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)

Maybe Del Toro wanted to make two different movies and decided to merge them together. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)

CineScene.com (Howard Schumann)

Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth has been called a fairy tale, but it is one without the color, warmth, or wonder we normally associate with films of this type. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at CineScene.com (Howard Schumann)

Mutant Reviewers From Hell

The film is curiously cold, actually. It depends almost completely upon two crucial elements: the absolute perfect casting of Ivana Baquero as precocious young bookworm Ofelia who functions wonderfully as both a worrisome young girl placed in a ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Mutant Reviewers From Hell

South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Phoebe Flowers)

Pan's Labyrinth , with its unblinking sense of the baroque, may be a tough sell for anyone generally not interested in fantasy. But the film is one of the most original and spectacular of the year. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Phoebe Flowers)

Film Journal International (Kevin Lally)

In 2001, Mexican writer-director Guillermo del Toro ingeniously melded a tale of supernatural horror with the real-life carnage of the Spanish Civil War in the brilliant and haunting The Devil's Backbone. With Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro returns to that ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Film Journal International (Kevin Lally)

<<dnb@dca.net>>

Squeaking in amidst much hullabaloo for year-end Oscar(r) consideration--and playing to a standing-room-only art-house crowd who had no doubt gotten a heady whiff of some of that pre-awards hoopla--the fantasmagorical Spanish-language film "Pan's ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at <<dnb@dca.net>>

"Mark R. Leeper"

Back in the 1960s Mexican science fiction, horror, and fantasy films started showing up on television and to a lesser extent in theaters. Many would feature as stars professional wrestlers such as Santo and/or homegrown monsters such as the ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at "Mark R. Leeper"

stylusmagazine.com (Paolo Cabrelli)

The basic narrative is thus: a young girl, Ofelia, travels with her pregnant mother and adoptive father to a rural area in Northern Spain, 1944. Soon drawn into an old stone labyrinth, Ofelia is told by a faun that she is an immortal princess of the ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at stylusmagazine.com (Paolo Cabrelli)

The Seattle Times (Moira Macdonald)

Asked by a child if she believes in fairies, a weary-eyed housekeeper (Maribel VerdÃº) says that she doesn't anymore, but that she did when she was younger. Back then, she says, "I believed in a lot of things I don't believe ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at The Seattle Times (Moira Macdonald)

Not Coming to a Theater Near You (Jenny Jediny)

Utilizing a young girl as his heroine, the lovely, dark haired Ofelia, del Toro places not only fantasy but also children at the forefront of his fable. As the connecting thread, Ofelia opens the film on a journey to her new home in the Spanish ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Not Coming to a Theater Near You (Jenny Jediny)

kids-in-mind

Set in 1940s Spain, during the authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco: A lonely and imaginative girl, whose mother marries a successful but brutal military captain, creates fantastical creatures and an imaginary world that transports her far away from ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at kids-in-mind

The Phantom Tollbooth

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy and Blade II) has taken Spain's Civil War and written how the anguish and violence of war would be seen through a child's eyes. In this case, the child is a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero looking for all the world ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at The Phantom Tollbooth

RevolutionSF (Matthew Pook)

Pan's Labyrinth (originally titled El Laborinto del Fauno) is as dark hearted a fairy tale as you will see all year, a tale mired in the final days of the resistance following the Spanish Civil War. As the fascist Falangists, victors over the left wing ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at RevolutionSF (Matthew Pook)

hoopla.nu

What bothers me is that my opinion of Pan's Labyrinth on the surface simply doesn't make sense. Labyrinth is my favourite film of all time, and in 2005 Mirrormask made it into my top ten, so this film should be right down my alley. In terms of visual ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at hoopla.nu

Indiewire

"A fairy tale for grown-ups!" exclaim the mindless reviewers who can't get their noses out of their press kits. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Aside from its highly exploitative and infantile use of graphic gore, this one is strictly ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Indiewire

The Nation (Stuart Klawans)

Now think of a fully human stepfather: a fascist military officer serving in Franco's victorious army. The gloomy lair of this Captain Vidal is an old mill, set in the woods and mountains where he has been sent to hunt a few remaining partisans. Your ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at The Nation (Stuart Klawans)

Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)

If you like your films dark, scary, nerve wracking and visually stunning, this film is for you. Be warned, there is graphic violence, torture and bad things do happen to good people. This is NOT a film for children. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)

Tracksounds! (Cap Stewart)

The narrative centers on Ofelia, a young girl struggling to survive in war-torn Spain while also embarking on a quest into a literal world of fantasy. Though it may sound thematically similar to the Narnia series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Tracksounds! (Cap Stewart)

Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)

Pan's Labyrinth is a stylish fantasy film that is about escape. Ofelia is thrust into the cruel world of her ruthless stepfather ordered to suppress leftist rebel attacks in the north of Spain. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)

Greenwich Village Gazette (Eric Lurio)

It's June 1944. War is raging everywhere but Spain, or at least that's the official story. Even though the Republic finally collapsed under assault from Franco's fascists in early 1939, an insurgency was still going on, and would continue into the 1950s. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Greenwich Village Gazette (Eric Lurio)

Boxoffice Magazine

Ofelia, fascinated by fairytales, discovers an overgrown, ruined labyrinth behind the mill. In the heart of the labyrinth she meets Pan, an ancient satyr (Doug Jones, beneath thick layers of special effects), who claims to know her true identity and her ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Boxoffice Magazine

Richmond Times-Dispatch (Daniel Neman)

The Spanish-language film, which perhaps has earned more praise than it deserves, tells two stories at the same time (and occupies two worlds) that are at odds with each other. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Richmond Times-Dispatch (Daniel Neman)

Charlotte Weekly (Sean O'Connell)

Del Toro has realized a work of art that's too terrifying and politically motivated for young audience members who should be swept up in Ofelia's royal dreams. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Charlotte Weekly (Sean O'Connell)

Metromix.com (Matt Pais)

An escape from everyday dreariness of which you'll want more than the film will offer. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Metromix.com (Matt Pais)

Slant Magazine

Pan's Labyrinth is a fancy retooling of The Devil's Backbone: the political context is the same, except a girl replaces a boy, a forest subs for a vast desert plain, fantasy usurps horror, and escape is a more prominent obsession than revenge. A young ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Slant Magazine

San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)

Pan's Labyrinth , like del Toro's previous and related The Devil's Backbone , is a saturated vision, an artist's work. What it lacks is successful unity. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)

Planet Sick-Boy (Jon Popick)

If Tim Burton and Jan Svankmejer had teamed up to make The Chronicles of Narnia, the result probably would have looked something like this picture, which drops a cute but bookish little girl (Ivana Banquero) into a very rural woodsy area in Northern ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Planet Sick-Boy (Jon Popick)

Salon (Stephanie Zacharek)

his is a somber, lovely picture, set in Franco's Spain a few years after that country's civil war. It's rich both in metaphorical terms and in literal ones. Del Toro's imagery is so vivid and concrete that it's likely to change the color of your sleep: A ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Salon (Stephanie Zacharek)

Tiscali UK

Greeted in some critical circles as the cinematic equivalent of the Second Coming, Guillermo del Toro's latest venture returns in part to the world featured in his 2001 offering The Devil's Backbone: the Spanish Civil War and its particular effect on the ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Tiscali UK

Lee's Movie Info (Craig Younkin)

For those who don't know, the story is based during the Spanish Civil War, where a young girl named Ophelia (Ivana Baquero) is brought to live on the army base of her sadistic stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Her mother is dying from pregnancy ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Lee's Movie Info (Craig Younkin)

In Film Australia

Much has been said of the slick otherworldly panache of Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, which juxtaposes a nightmarish fantasy world with an even scarier vision of reality (circa 1944 in fascist Spain). It surprised nobody that the film ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at In Film Australia

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Compelling performances carry the film's emotional resonance, one underlined by a bittersweet ending that reminds us that despite its physical limits, imagination nourishes hope. ...read the complete Pan's Labyrinth movie review at Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Rank 3 Reviews

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