PAN'S LABYRINTH (El Laberinto del Fauno) - Film Review 30/11/06

Guillermo Del Toro's "El Laberinto del Fauno" (Pan's Labyrinth) is more a companion piece to his previous work "The Devil's Backbone" than another Hellboy - Even though it does have those elements of ancient mythology scattered around in there. Wanting to see this of course; I had to travel up the local railway line to the next big city as the local flea-pit wasn't showing it, seems to be a bit of an art-house run because it's Spanish language and subtitled. It's the sort of fairytale which isn't going to end "happily ever after" and more so depending on how you view the story and from what angle. This dark - VERY dark fable has it's setting in the Spanish Civil War and the rise of the Fascist Government amidst a mythological tale spun around a faun and it's netherworld of creatures (Doug Jones from Hellboy crops up) and a child tasked to perform ancient rites to open a way home.
Feeling unfortunately a mite overblown the two hour running time certainly stunned my arse in the cinema's uncomfortable seating as I munched on down a Herta hotdog slathered in tomato sauce and slurped on a big slushy. The sharpness of "Hellboy" and "Blade 2" was missing from this opus and it certainly was very slow. Whilst I have a copy of "The Devil's Backbone" on DVD and think it a fine ghost story I certainly can't see me adding "Pan's Labyrinth" to my DVD Buy List. Interesting enough to watch once and certain parts are fantastical (Particularly the Pale Man sequence) it's a movie that is one thing disguised as another - half-and-half in fact; and in some places, it's very nasty indeed!