Tired of depressingly benign children’s fairy tale movies?  Have you ever been less-than-terrified by “bad guys” whose badness is mostly defined by a swarthy complexion and a propensity for growling at children?  Did you ever wonder why Peter Pan didn’t just poke a rusty rapier through Captain Hook’s eye and end our pain?  Fear not!  Our Iberian neighbors have blessed us with Pan’s Labyrinth, the most uncompromising fairy tale movie since this. 

The story of Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t unique: A child copes with turbulent times (in this case, fascist Spain) through her imagination (or is it?).  The difference in this film is the depth of emotion that is produced by the brutality of the material.  I’m not a violent person (at least when I’m not driving), but I appreciate movies that use violence effectively.  And if its going to be mindless violence, it at least better be cool mindless violence.  In Pan’s Labyrinth, the violence of reality forces us to invest more emotion in the fairy tale world than Neverland or Narnia could ever dream of.  (The great acting and high production values don’t hurt either.)  Even my quasi-pacifistic wife loved it.

Note: The movie is entirely in Spanish with subtitles so you might want to steer clear if you’re illiterate, or racist.