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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Pan's Labyrinth
Picturehouse


8.3

based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 910 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for graphic violence and some language

Starring Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones, Álex Angulo, Roger Casamajor, and César Vea

Guillermo del Toro delivers a unique, richly-imagined epic with Pan's Labyrinth, a gothic fairy tale set against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain.

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Fantasy \| Foreign \| Horror \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Guillermo del Toro
DIRECTED BY:	Guillermo del Toro
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 15, 2007 Theatrical: December 29, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	119 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Mexico / Spain / USA
LANGUAGE(S):	Spanish (with English subtitles)

Received a total of 6 Academy Award nominations. Nominated, Golden Palm, 2006 Cannes Film Festival; Nominated Best Cinematography and Best Feature, 2007 Independent Spirit Awards. Original title "El Laberinto del Fauno."

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This is like no movie you've seen before, a haunting mixture of horror, history and fantasy that works simultaneously on every level.

100

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Pan's Labyrinth Like his terrific 2001 "The Devil’s Backbone," Mexican horrormeister Guillermo del Toro's new movie offers us both real-life and fantastical monsters, and if you know his work, you won't waste time figuring out which to root for.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A brilliant work of the imagination capable of truly seizing and igniting our fantasies.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The result of the intricate interplay is a fairy tale for adults that is violent, sometimes shocking, yet utterly engrossing. And eerily instructive; it deepens our emotional understanding of fascism, and of rigid ideology's dire consequences.

100

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A swift and accessible entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in its effects.

100

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Unlike most horror movies, this chiller gives equal prominence to reality and fantasy, though the reality is far more frightening. The only precedent that comes to mind in terms of a lyrical treatment of a child's experience of terror is "The Night of the Hunter."

100

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Del Toro's film ranks with the best examinations of children's inner lives, but be warned: Its haunting insights are best left to adults.

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A critic trots out the word "masterpiece" at his own peril, but there it is.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Nothing this year comes close to being as utterly unforgettable as Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, an extremely dark and disturbing fairy tale for audiences say, ages 12 and up.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Visually stunning, it meshes haunting images with a complex multilevel story about the enchantment of youth.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

This intense film, a mix of horror, fantasy, and history that convinces on all those levels and mixes them up with dizzying brio, is a searing cinematic experience, a beautiful, terrifying vision from writer-director Guillermo del Toro.

100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Literally and figuratively marvelous, a rich, daring mix of fantasy and politics.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Del Toro never coddles the audience. He means us to leave Pan's Labyrinth shaken to our souls. He succeeds.

100

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

In tone, Pan's Labyrinth resembles a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and H.P. Lovecraft, with some Buñuel thrown in for good measure. It is a tribute to - as well as a prime example of - the disturbing power of imagination.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Like the folk tales from centuries past, Pan's Labyrinth is a dark odyssey with nightmarish visions and cruel threats, but coming through the sacrifice and suffering is the childlike belief in magic and imagination that for Del Toro represents the hope and optimism of a happily ever after in this cruel world.

100

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

These creatures of the underworld are the fervid fabrications of del Toro's imagination: More than once they will catch you by surprise and make you gasp.

100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Pan's Labyrinth is a transcendent work of art.

100

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It leaves you feeling exhilarated at the invigorating power a well-told story, no matter its subject, can have. If you like Harry Potter, you will love this movie. If you don't like Harry Potter, you will still love this movie.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This is the breakthrough work of one of world cinema's most visionary artists.

100

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

With this film, del Toro seems to have created his manifesto, a tour de force of cautionary zeal, humanism and magic. At this writing, Pan's Labyrinth is the best-reviewed film of 2006 listed on the movie review Web site Metacritic.com, and for a reason: It's just that great.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Like any great myth, Pan's Labyrinth encodes its messages through displays of magic. And like any good fairy tale, it is also embroidered with threads of death and loss.

100

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

We don't find out until the last scene how reality and fantasy intersect, when the meaning of the first shot of the film gets driven home. How many movies have you seen with a payoff like that?

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Del Toro presents one dazzling visual spectacle after another.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

With a surgical saw instead of a hatchet, del Toro takes apart patriarchy and opportunistic religion as well as fascism.

100

Empire Kim Newman

Dark, twisted and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to startling effect.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One of the greatest of all fantasy films.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

After two hours of dazzlingly fantastical images and stomach-turning gore, del Toro winds around, and finds his story's center.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

So smartly has del Toro thought his fable through, and so graceful is his grasp of visual rhyme, that to pick holes in it seems mean; yet Pan's Labyrinth is perhaps more dazzling than involving--I was too busy reading its runes and clues, as it were, to be swept away. It is, I suspect, a film to return to, like a country waiting to be explored: a maze of dead ends and new life.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

The action scenes are exciting, the fantasy scenes are creative and the war scenes are brutal.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

With Pan's Labyrinth, Del Toro has made his most accomplished film to date, a dark and disturbing fairy tale for adults that's been thought out to the nth degree and resonates with the irresistible inevitability of a timeless myth.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

This is a true fairy tale, and one of the finest fantasy pictures ever made, but please do not take your young children to see it unless you want them to be scarred for life.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The lack of family friendliness does not diminish what del Toro has achieved with this magical motion picture.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Pan's Labyrinth artfully fuses a war film with a family melodrama and a fairy tale. The result is visually stunning and emotionally shattering.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

His palette here is deep-toned, with bottomless blacks and supersaturated oranges and blues--as if the Walt Disney of "Pinocchio" had collaborated with Goya.

Newsweek David Ansen

Suspended between the brutally graphic and flights of lyrical fancy, Pan's Labyrinth unfolds with the confidence of a classical fable, one that paradoxically feels both timeless and startlingly new.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

The performers are all good with Baquero poised and beautiful as Ofelia and Verdu vital and spirited as the rebellious Mercedes. Lopez gives an extraordinary performance as the bestial captain, an irredeemable villain to rank with Ralph Fiennes' Nazi in "Schindler's List."

Variety Justin Chang

There's plenty of blood -- both literal and figurative -- coursing through the veins of Pan's Labyrinth, a richly imagined and exquisitely violent fantasy from writer-director Guillermo del Toro.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 910 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Marcus S. gave it a10:
It was truly amazing! I loved it! One of the best movies I have ver seen. It's plot was very clear to all you stupid people The Spanish language adds the romance to the movie making much better. The Spanish makes the speaking of the words is just amazing! Spanish is a Romance language, it flows evenly. If it was in english it would ruin the entire thing. It was so fantastic. I loved it. It's theme of being half about the Spanish Revolution and the fantasy of escaping to a peaseful immortal world was the most immaginative thing ever! It has the best ending I have ever seen! The actors did a great job, and the visual effects are the best I have ever seen! The most amaving movie I have ever seen in my entire life.

Caleb H. gave it a7:
Um, vague much? Art direction and make up was fantastic, but everything else was a mess! Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie. It's just not the Oscar winning, best picture of the year material. Too much pointless violence, not enough fantasy and not enough distinction between the two. The ending was the best part. The movie drags on in some places and should have been 30 mintues shorter. Good movie, not great.

John S. gave it a10:
obviously if local college students dont watch it then its a bad move...this would have to be on of the best moveis ive ever seen, up there with The Departed, American History X and Downfall

Rodrigo A. gave it a10:
I loved this movie 100%, Del Toro's vision between real life and fantasy is fascinating, see how the pale man (the baby eating monster) is sitting at the center of the table just like captain Vidal, they both represent evil, also de tree that was dying because of the frog that was living inside of it, just like the mother of "Ofelia" (yes in spanish Ophelia is written as it is.) who's dying because of the baby she's carrying with. The Faun is almost the fantasy version of Mercedes. I'd like to say to the user that gave it a 1 because of it's unrealistic look, etc. that there are things way more important than un-accurate effects of the luger pistol, the blood, etc. I tell you this and you might think im a nerd who adores Del Toro. (I'm a film student, so I know how to analyze a movie) and I think the reason Americans are an active consumer of Foreign films because most of them have quite more interesting story than most of the garbage hollywood is producing.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This movie is easily the best movie ever made (in my opinion). Del Toro blends fantasy and reality perfectly. The movie is beautiful and flawless, and shows brutality and innocence. Those hate it should go back to watching Meet the Spartans or Epic Movie, since you obviously don't know what a real film is. A perfect 10/10 for Pan's Labyrinth.

Jonathan A. gave it a10:
Wonderful movie. The contrast of a child's imagination with the realities of war makes this film extremely moving. Just know that it is not a traditional fantasy movie.

IanRey P. gave it a7:
My expectation was that this movie is a great fantasy movie. But through the course of the film, I felt the war concept of the film more. And the war part was I could only say, finely done. And I still enjoyed it.I have seen anything like it.

Pan's Labyrinth Picturehouse

Pan's Labyrinth
Picturehouse