Pan's Labyrinth Family Review

In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.In 1944 Falangist Spain, a girl, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.—ahmetkozanIn 1944, in the post-Civil War in Spain, rebels still fight in the mountains against the Falangist troops. The young and imaginative Ofelia travels with her pregnant and sick mother Carmen Vidal to the country to meet and live with her stepfather, the sadistic and cruel Captain Vidal, in an old mill. During the night, Ofelia meets a fairy and together they go to a pit in the center of a maze where they meet a faun that tells that she is a princess from a kingdom in the underground. He also tells that her father is waiting for her, but she needs to accomplish three gruesome, tough and dangerous assignments first. Meanwhile, she becomes friend of the servant Mercedes, who is the sister of one of the rebels and actually is giving support to the group. In a dark, harsh and violent world, Ofelia lives her magical world trying to survive her tasks and sees her father and king again.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilOfelia's love of fairy tales is obvious from the beginning of El Laberinto del fauno. Set in the not so tranquil Spanish woodlands of World War Two, where a small band of anti-Falangist rebels are hiding out. This is where Ofelia and her pregnant mother have come to live, in the company of Capitán Vidal, Ofelia's new stepfather and soon to be father of her half-brother. It is with the brutal, unforgiving and totalitarian idealist Capitán Vidal, and his Falangist troops, who must weed out these resistance fighters of the hills and woods, that Ofelia finds her release and distraction of the new world order and its warring factions and delves into the older, mysterious and enchanting world of fairies, faun's and giant frogs. Beautiful, charming, graphic and deadly. El Laberinto del fauno.—Cinema_FanSet in Spain during World War II. This is the story of a young girl named Ofelia. She is a girl who has a passion for fairy tales, which causes her to see one during her trip on the forest that is not quiet. She goes to her stepfather's home in the country along with her pregnant but sickly mother, he is the sadistic Captain Vidal. Ofelia creates an imaginary world of her own to escape the cruel and harsh realities of the world. When she encounters a faun, she must complete three tasks in order to obtain immortality according to the legend of a princess.—Emphinix1 moreAll