Pan's Labyrinth

Image depticting the danger of 'Pale Man' and his tendency to eat children.

Ofelia under the tree in search of the Toad, as instructed by the Faun

Ofelia still further fixated by her book, regardless of her surroundings.

Pale man in pursuit of Ofelia, after already eating two of her fairy assistants. He horrifyingly extends his hands to enable his eyes to see his target.

Ofelia approaching the entrance of the Faun's labyrinth, implied by the emblem at the center of the arch.

Ofelia fixated with her book, often ostracized within the film's beginning for this reason.

The Pale man seated at his banquet, which is his  trap for any visitors.

Ofelia with the Faun (left) giving her tasks to fulfil before the next full moon.

Pale man in an inactive state, as Ofelia enters the room. His eyes can be seen on the plate.

Ofelia approaching the tree where the toad resides.

Pan's Labyrinth Review:

Guillermo Del Toro's perfect marriage of limitless fantasy and brutal realism was a successful combination in Pan's Labyrinth. The film starts with a young girl Ofelia of 10 years old and her pregnant mother Carmen being chaperoned to reunite with her new husband Vidal, a black-hearted captain of the Spanish army in fascist Spain during the 1940's. Within the first few minutes it is easy for the audience to establish that Vidal is not the most humane of characters, showing his clear disdain for Ofelia, his character shortly emphasized and solidified by bashing the faces in of 2 farmers protesting their innocence after being suspected for rebels. This scene is brutal and graphic, and prompts the audience to empathize with the two poor men, and immediately gives Vidal villain status within the movie.
As the film deepens we are introduced to the Faun, this fantasy being, with a deep powerful voice coaxing Ofelia into fulfilling tasks before the next full moon as to maintain her purity. She was sent to feed a toad special stones in order to gain a key, feed a mandrake that was a mirror of her mothers health, when Vidal detected the Mandrake under the bed it was subsequently thrown into a fire, with her mother consequently worsening in condition and dying during the child birth of Ofelia's baby brother. With Ofelia's mother gone it was only her and Vidal, with only a semblance of care from Mercedes, a maid in the house with rebel ties, later detected by Vidal. Ofelia was also instructed to retrieve a dagger from Pale Man's sanctuary. Pale man was a particularly disgusting being, with gaunt yellow skin, a thin body and an eyeless face, with the palm of his hands being the home to his eyeballs. The Pale man is sat at a table dormant, with an attractive looking banquet of food and fruit surrounding him. Having already been forewarned not to take anything from the banquet, Ofelia took two grapes anyway, awakening Pale Man who then devours two of her fairy assistants, in a narrow escape, Ofelia survives and is given a final test, which is to take her baby brother to the labyrinth and to shed a drop of his blood in order to open the entrance to the underworld. Ofelia flatly refuses. While there is a great deal going on in the fantasy world, in the real world there are political rumblings, and a bitter war ongoing between Vidal's men and the rebels. After encounters with them Vidal goes in for the kill, mercilessly disposing of people, even his doctor for sympathizing with the rebels. Vidal's ruthlessness proved to be his own undoing, after Ofelia steals her brother after drugging him, he pursues her, retrieves the baby and then shoots Ofelia. By this point Vidal's number is already up due to the rebels tactically moving in on his compound and Mercedes emerges with her rebel brother and a larger mob of rebels. Mercedes then takes the baby from Vidal, and Vidal is murdered before being told that his son would know nothing of his existence. As Ofelia lays bleeding to death the audience is brought to the underworld, where she is reunited with her rightful parents, the King and Queen of the underworld as it is revealed the task of drawing blood from her baby brother was actually a test of her own purity. As she lay dying, Mercedes cradles her and delivers a spine-chilling lullaby. The plots and sub-plots of fantasy tied in with the brutal uncompromising realism creates a winning balance, with the cinematography beautiful even in its brutality. Magical sounds used enforce the whimsical effects of the fantasy world, this is one of the best films I have ever watched. I am now prompted to watch a previous Del Toro work, "The Devil's Backbone".