Director and screenwriter Guillermo del Toro has created a film in Pan’s Labyrinth that is going to be remembered for a long time because of the enormous chances it takes. A giant toad, a corrupted tree, a human-like plant, a fortune-telling tome, fairies and door-creating chalk all sound like items from a children’s story, but Pan’s Labyrinth is is no tale to lull one’s children to sleep at night.

Pan’s Labyrinth challenges its audience to accept the existence of a supernatural underworld in the midst of a very real World War II era, all taking place at a military outpost in rural Spain.

The protagonist is a young, imaginative girl named Ofelia, (Ivana Baquero), who longs for something more out of her ordinary, war-stricken world. It’s made obvious that Ofelia spends most of her time reading books and dreaming of worlds much different than ours.

The movie opens with Ofelia and her mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) traveling by car to stay at a Spanish military outpost led by Captain Vidal (Sergie Lopez), Ofelia’s stepfather. Carmen is pregnant with Vidal’s son, and the captain wants his family to stay there with him.

On the way, the car stops so Carmen can get out and take a breather. Ofelia, being the adventurous girl that she is, walks a ways down the path and notices an intriguing stone that falls at her feet. She places the stone into the statue from which it fell and a praying mantis crawls out of the statue.

The praying mantis shows interest in Ofelia by following her for the next couple of scenes, and ultimately leads her to an underground labyrinth, ruled by a faun named Pan.

The eccentric faun, who is a combination of a goat, a tree, and Sloth from the Goonies, tells Ofelia that she is the princess who escaped the underworld long ago, and for her to reclaim her throne, she must embark on three dangerous quests.

One of the best and clearly most memorable scenes of the film is Ofelia’s second quest where she encounters the Pale Man. Ofelia is asked by Pan to retrieve a magic knife from the Pale Man’s lair, but is warned not to touch any of the food that she may encounter. Of course, Ofelia can’t resist and decides to eat just two grapes. Surely, he won’t mind if she only eats a couple of grapes, right?

Wrong. Those two grapes brings the Pale Man to life as he quickly places two eye balls into his palms and uses his hands to see as he chases her throughout his domain. It’s visually shocking, disturbing, and, well…awesome.

The true villain of the film, Vidal, is one of the most despicable characters you will ever meet at the theater – you will love him. The egocentric Vidal doesn’t care about much for his pregnant wife Carmen – he only cares about his future son to continue the Vidal name.

Pan’s Labyrinth is one of those films that you can immerse yourself in because of its brilliant pacing. It never drags on and always gives the audience something visually pleasing, or unsettling, along with plot twists, great acting, memorable characters, dark humor, and excellent dialogue.

Did I mention it’s entirely in Spanish? I haven’t yet because you won’t even realize you are reading subtitles. The screenwriting is expertly crafted, and unfolds like a great fantasy novel. Even moviegoers who don’t like foreign films with subtitles will enjoy Pan’s Labyrinth.

The main theme of the film is the struggle between Ofelia’s imaginative personality and her stepfather’s always serious and ice-cold attitude. Vidal doesn’t approve of his stepdaughter’s unwillingness to live in the real world by always escaping into a book. Unbeknownst to Vidal, this “imaginary” world might play a very real role in his downfall.

The charm of the film is how it lets the audience decide if the underworld realm is real or just another one of Ofelia’s daydreams. The film supports both theories, up to the very last scene. How del Toro pulled off a great ending by not revealing all of the secrets of Pan’s Labyrinth is exceptional story telling.

Those of you that are easily disturbed and can’t take a whole lot of violence may want to stay clear of Pan’s Labyrinth. There aren’t a ton of unsettling scenes, but the ones that are are really pretty excruciating.

These scenes combined with elements from children’s books would probably get most screenwriters thrown in the loony bin, but del Toro has masterfully combined the two extremes and created something that I don’t recall has ever been attempted to this degree.

With “Lady in the Water,’ M. Night Shyamalan attempted what del Toro has accomplished by successfully making a wicked children’s story enjoyed by adults. What makes del Toro’s so much better is the fact that his film doesn’t beat the audience over the head with the rules of his imaginative world. He presents the underworld almost instantly and it’s up to the audience if they want to buy into it all.

If you enjoyed “Return to Oz,” “The NeverEnding Story,” “Labyrinth,” or “Alice in Wonderland” as a kid or a teenager and want to relive some of those childhood memories as an adult, this is one Labyrinth I would suggest getting lost in.

Rating: 9.5

This review was written by Dustin Freund in The Daily Star-Journal of Warrensburg, Mo. in 2007.