Pan's Labyrinth
Escaping Reality
Not quite your typical Hollywood/Warner Brothers movie, which is probably a good thing. It is a somewhat dark fantasy drama film, which was made in 2006 in Spain.
In this fairy tale we have Princess Moanna who has visited the human world and looses her memory. Her father is the king of the underworld and believes that her spirit will return, so he builds labyrinths/portals in preparation for her return someday.
In Spain 1944 during the Franco period we have Ofelia living with her mother and stepfather whom is a captain in the army and a hard man. Ofelia is led by what she believes to a fairy into one of the labyrinth's that the king built. In the labyrinth Ofelia meets a creature that believes she is the princess's spirit returning to the labyrinth. In order to ensure that this is the case Ofelia is given three tasks to complete, the first is to retrieve a key from the belly of the toad, which see completes successfully.
The second task is to retrieve a dagger from the Pale man, a child eating monster. Ofelia is warned not to eat anything during the second task. She breaks this condition and the Pale man wakes from his sleep, resulting in two fairies being eaten.
The creature is not about to give Ofelia the third task due to the deaths of the two fairies. Ofelia is told to bring her baby brother into the labyrinth, she is then told that in order to open the portal she requires the blood on an "innocent". Ofelia refuses to harm her brother, the creature refuses to help her any further.
Ofelia's housekeeper is working for the rebels against the Franco army, her stepfather finds out and arrests the housekeeper. The housekeeper manages to escape, however the Ofelia is accidentally shot during the process, she re-enters the labyrinth where her blood spills onto a staircase. Ofelia then appears in a throne room, where she is told that the final test was not to harm her brother. This she has passed, hence, she is invited to rule the underworld as she is the Princess returned.
The cinematography, make up and special effects are very good. This is not suited for the younger members of the family as the violence is graphic and the monsters are scary. Hence being a fantasy movie it will not be for everyone, if you do like this genre, then it is worth seeing.