If you have only seen three movies by a director and by all accounts not necessarily the best three I don't know if you can rightly call yourself a fan, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I am now firmly in the Guillermo del Toro fan camp. I've seen Mimic, Blade II, Hellboy, and now Pan's Labyrinth. So maybe it takes four movies to call yourself a fan. Maybe it only takes one. Maybe I worry too much. In any event I can say that Pan's is by far the best of the four.

A couple of things to note. One, this film is in Spanish. If you don't like subtitles (and this is an affliction that you need to get over) or don't speak Spanish (and considering the way things are going maybe you should learn) then this is not the movie for you. Second, this movie got an "R" in large part because of the violence herein. While I have to say it's not really gory, the version I saw cuts away right when you think things are going to get nasty, there is definitely a fair amount of blood and folks getting shot and sliced. Also, though this is a faerie tale, it's in the vein of the old school tales and it's worth saying again that it earns its "R".

Pan's Labyrinth is a faerie tale interspersed with some happenings during Franco's regime in 1944 Spain. Ofelia, an eleven year old girl with a hyper-active imagination, and her pregnant mother Carmen travel from the city to the countryside to be close to Capitan Vidal, the baby's biological father. Carmen's pregnancy is difficult and Vidal the psycho control freak wants her to be close in spite of the fact that he happens to be hunting rebels that are in the woods surrounding the old house.

Ofelia loves to read faerie tales and the house, grounds, and titular maze spark her imagination, kicking it into over drive. In addition to befriending Mercedes, the head housekeeper, she also meets a few faeries and the faun, whose name is never actually mentioned in the movie. Whether the more fantastical elements are real or not is left up to the viewer, though there are solid indications that they are. The all too real parts of her new life drive her deep into the mysteries she discovers as she talks to her new friends and explores the world they live in. It seems that, according to the faun, Ofelia is the long lost daughter of a king who lives underground. In order to join her real family she must complete three tasks.

Guillermo wrote this in addition to directing it and his love for faerie tales is as deep as Ofelia's. There's a host of imagery and tradition from stories that we've all heard growing up. Ofelia's human father is a tailor. The quest she undertakes involves the three tasks, each more difficult. Capitan Vidal is the uber wicked stepfather. You don't eat or drink in the faerie realm if you wish to return. The creatures themselves are perfect, organic and completely odd. I could gush about the acting, the great sets, the characters, the fact that this movie has more layers than an onion or an ogre or a parfait. Instead I'll take just a minute and talk about one of the main themes, if not the main theme, sacrifice.

Carmen sacrifices by marrying the captain so that they can have a "good life". Mercedes gives up living with her people so that she can be close to the captain and serve as a source of information and supplies. The rebels fight and die for the cause. Ofelia is asked to sacrifice a number of things throughout the film, with varying degrees of success and consequence. Giving up your desires for the benefit of others is painted in a very positive and painful light. In most cases it's rewarded, though not always in the manner that the person would have chosen.

I don't really want to say much more, but I think that if you watch this you'll find it as beautiful, sad, and brutal as life itself often is.