http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/PansLabyrinth

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Imagine Alice's Adventures in Wonderland meeting The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, then joined by The Wind That Shakes the Barley with a sizable portion of The Brothers Grimm thrown in.

You'll get...

Pan's Labyrinth (Original Spanish title: El Laberinto del Fauno), a dark, modern-day fairy tale, complete with fairies, Secret Tests of Character, and monsters — not all of them supernatural.

It's set in 1944, just after the Spanish Civil War (a favorite period for Mexico-born Guillermo del Toro, the film's writer and director) with Spain's democratically elected left-wing government overthrown by Francisco Franco's Nationalists and the new fascist regime attempting to weed out the last traces of La Résistance, led by The Remnant of the former Republican government. The story centers on Ofelia, an only child whose widowed mother Carmen has agreed to marry the ruthless Captain Vidal to provide for them. In turn, he expects her to bear him a son.

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Ofelia and her mother are taken to a villa in the mountains near an old labyrinth (the titular Faun's one) to be near Captain Vidal for the birth while he hunts down rebels. She is quickly taken into a Changeling Fantasy about how she is secretly princess of the underworld fairy kingdom, lost to humanity for many ages. The Faun and his labyrinth were one of many made by her father, the King of the Underworld, as gateways in the hope she would return.

As she undergoes trials to prove her soul is uncorrupted by living among humans, so do the rebels, her mother, and her nursemaid and only friend Mercedes.

Warning, this film is a Tear Jerker. A profoundly disturbing Tear Jerker, as well as a great source of horror. For those of you who missed the R rating... This fairy tale is very definitely not for children.

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It is notable that many squicks and nightmares were induced by this movie due to it being advertised as "family friendly." Especially in Europe, trailers shown only mentioned the fantasy parts. The fact that it takes place during Franco's regime is completely ignored, as is every mention of gruesomeness. Rated everything from 12+ (France, Japan, Iceland, and Taiwan) to 21+ (Singapore) in cinemas.

Del Toro's earlier The Devil's Backbone is considered its "brother film". It's also now the subject of an upcoming musical adaptation written by Del Toro himself, with Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel, Brokeback Mountain and The Last of Us) and Paul Williams composing music/lyrics, respectively.

Should not be confused with Labyrinth, which is considerably Lighter and Softer, although their premises and sensibilities are comparable.

This film provides examples of:

Glasgow Grin: Vidal gets half of one when he finds out that Mercedes is spying for the rebels. He tries to capture her, but she slashes his mouth with a knife that was on her. He then stitches himself up. Squick.

Good All Along: In the climax, the Faun demands that Ofelia hand over her baby brother so that he can cut him a little to open the portal to the Underworld . Ofelia refuses . It turns out that the Faun was testing her, and he's proud that she refused when they reunite in the Underworld. Ofelia gives him a relieved smile .

. Ofelia . It turns out that . Good Is Not Nice: Going along with Dark Is Not Evil above, the Faun is frightening and downright mean at times, but he's on Ofelia's side... Or so we assume.

Gory Discretion Shot: In some scenes, the gory section is either shown or shown an initial effect (e.g. sawing off the leg, or smashing a person's face.) Other gory scenes are skipped (e.g. torture scene, or cutting the captain's mouth.)

Grievous Bottley Harm: In a horrific scene, Vidal beats a man's face in with a bottle. Notably averts the Gory Discretion Shot.

Lucky Translation: When Ofelia says, "Yo sacrifico," the subtitles translate it to "I would". To an English viewer, it looks and sounds like the word "sacrifice," which fittingly happens as Vidal catches up to her .

. Lunacy: The moon is connected to the world of magic, and the Faun requires Ofelia to complete the tasks by the time the moon is full. Del Toro talks about the association of the moon with the female nature, and of its phases with the concept of change. Therefore, it represents Ofelia's metamorphosis from a girl into a woman and ultimately (back) into a fairy .

Our Fairies Are Different: The Faun's fairies disguise themselves as insects.

Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Del Toro says that the Pale Man is his conception of the classic, child eating ogre of fairy tales.

Pay Evil unto Evil: Pedro's killing of Vidal for the murder of Ofelia.

Point That Somewhere Else: Captain Vidal aims his pistol at a wounded revolutionary, who weakly pushes it away once, twice, then rests his hand over the barrel. Vidal just shoots him.

Practical Effects: Due to financial constraints, the decision was made to bring Faun to the screen with an actor in a Monster Suit rather than creating an expensive CGI version. The human legs were removed in post production. The suit took five hours a day to put on but the convincing result was worth the effort.

Pragmatic Villainy: Captain Vidal was annoyed that he killed two hunters he mistook for rebels only because his men didn't check on them thoroughly, thus wasting his time, and killing innocent civilians would probably incite the townspeople to support the rebels.

Precision F-Strike: "Motherfucker, don't you dare touch the girl. You won't be the first pig I've gutted."

Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "He won't even know your name." *BANG!* Mercedes to Vidal, when the latter tries to give the rebels a message to pass on to his son when he's older.

Princess Protagonist: The Faun tells Ofelia that she is really princess Moanna of the underworld and that her father sent him to test and guide her so she can go back home. Ofelia goes to great lengths to prove herself worthy of being a princess, and in the epilogue we're told that she ruled wisely and was loved by her people .

"Ray of Hope" Ending: For those that know Spanish history, the rebels are doomed to lose the Civil War and the Franco regime will persist for several decades. Even so, after Ofelia dies, traces of her exist on Earth, from flowers blooming near the mill, providing hope that one day there will be a world for the innocent to live and rest peacefully .

. Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Pale Man has red eyes, adding to the already existing eye horror.

The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: The band of guerrilla fighters in the hills are depicted as overtly heroic, though they do noticeably execute the fascist prisoners in a scene that mirrors the summary executions of their own members early in the movie.

Robbing the Dead: The Captain takes killed hares or rabbits after killing an innocent hunter and his son.

Rule of Three: Three tests to prove her worth. Three items to be collected. Three times Ofelia goes to the Labyrinth, three times the Faun comes to her in her room. Three doors made with chalk. Three fairies. You get the picture.

Scenery Porn: Very visually stunning movie with gorgeous interior and exterior shots.

Secret Test of Character: In short, is it better to play it safe and obey, or to take the chance and be disobedient when you don't trust the authority in question? This theme is foreshadowed, in microcosmic form, in Ofelia's bedtime story for her unborn brother. The ultimate test is when the Faun demands that Ofelia hand over her brother so that he can use the baby's blood to get her back home. She refuses and dies thanks to Vidal catching up to her. It turns out that her decision was the right one, and the Faun is relieved when she appears as Princess Moanna in the Underworld. The Fairy King says it was her refusal to hurt an innocent that proved she was still their princess .

. Schmuck Bait: Subverted. The Faun menacingly says they need a "few drops of blood" from Ofelia's brother to open the portal. Ofelia sees the size of the knife and says no. It later turns out that this was part of her test and her father says refusing to spill the blood of an innocent showed that she could return home .

. Schmuck Banquet: The Pale Man's cursed feast. Ofelia was instructed not to touch it and not to eat under any circumstances, but she could not resist those delicous-looking grapes. Too bad it woke up the horrible creature...

Shamed by a Mob: Captain Vidal is shamed by the rebels near the end of the movie.

Shut Up, Hannibal!: Vidal when he finds out he will not win promptly tries to break Mercedes and the rebels by a speech about his greatness. Mercedes won't even bother to let Vidal finish his speech.

The Sociopath: Captain Vidal, a soldier willing to torture and kill as many partisans as he has to to make sure fascists take power in Spain. He cares for nothing but his own power and legacy, not even blinking when he shoots his adopted daughter to keep his biological son under his thumb.

to keep his biological son under his thumb. Soft Glass: Subverted in a scene early on which has Captain Vidal smashing a man's face in with a wine bottle. The bottle doesn't break. On the DVD commentary Del Toro relates a barfight he was in, seeing a friend beaten by a bottle which remained whole the whole time.

Spiritual Successor: Word of God identifies this film as the second in a loosely connected trilogy started by The Devil's Backbone and to be concluded with a ghost movie set in the '70s. There were some who saw it as a Spiritual Successor to the Franco-Era Spanish classic The Spirit Of The Beehive, another film that deals with a young girl's experiences in the early Franco years and her perception of the real-world realities of the time through a fantasy lens (in this case through Boris Karloff's Frankenstein). It could be thought of as Labyrinth reimagined as a horror movie.

Stealth Sequel: Adult versions of Jaime and Carlos from The Devil's Backbone appear as soldiers.

Supernatural-Proof Father: Vidal is unable to see the faun standing just in front of him.

Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack: "Mercedes' Lullaby" is the dominant musical motif of the film.

This Is Reality: Carmen soberly tells Ofelia that unlike the latter's fairy tale books, the world is a cruel place and magic doesn't exist. The doctor tells the rebels this in the novelization. He says that it's unlikely they'll actually win because the regime is powerful; he advises that Mercedes and her brother should Run for the Border and seek asylum. Pedro refuses; even if they lose, they can cause as much trouble as possible for Vidal and the men like him.

