After watching the Oscars in 2006, I was very curious about the movie Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno), which had won three Oscars and was nominated for six Oscars. At that time I did check out who the director was and found out that it was Mexican director named Guillermo del Toro, who’s earlier Hollywood movie “Hellboy” I had seen.

Lately I got the opportunity of seeing Pan’s Labyrinth and was totally blown away. I would totally agree with one of the reviews in IMBD who said that’s its “Beautiful, violent, magical and Sad…” What stood out for me in addition to the cinematography and the art direction was the acting by Sergi López who played the villainous “Captain Vidal”.

The story is set in Spain during 1944 at the peak of the fascist regime of “Francisco Franco”.  The story is  about a girl who with her pregnant mother goes to live with her step father who is a captain of the Spanish army. The girl Ofelia meets a fairy who takes to an old faun who tells her that she is a princess and must complete three grueling tasks in order to prove her royalty. If she happens to fail then she would never see her real father who is the King.

In the movie the whole fantasy world can be interrupted as being created by girl who wants to escape the harsh realities of life. Well that’s left to the audience.

Guillermo del Toro is going to be  directing “The Hobbit” and I can’t think of a better person to fill Peter Jackson’s shoes.