Wow. A movie finally lived up to its hype.
Director Guillermo del Toro ("Hellboy") directs
Pan's Labyrinth, a simultaneously beautiful and horrible story of a young girl who creates a fantasy world to help her escape the harsh realities of a cruel stepfather, sick mother and civil war. The plot seems simple, but I've found myself thinking of it over and over these last couple of days. It's like a children's story but there are spurts of random violence. The cinematography is gorgeous. Even the parts that are set in the "real world" seem like a fairytale. The music, haunting. Del Torro pulls together the best elements of his last few films and combines them to show some real strength as a writer/director. And the end is awesome.
How often does that happen?
Queue it up.