I was first enticed by this film when watching the trailer for Hellboy II, and hearing that Guillermo del Toro directed both pieces. Of course, I was quite ignorant about the whole story, first of all not realizing it was in Spanish, and not knowing that it had anything to do with Spain. Thank goodness for closed captions. =)
I really appreciated and enjoyed the fantasy aspect of this film. Guillermo did an amazing job bringing various caricatures to life and weaving them into what would otherwise be a wholly unbelievable story (hence, fantasy). Even though Hellboy has a bit more shallow of a plot, I can see from the trailer where Guillermo left his mark.
I also did not expect the film to be so grisly. The protagonist of the story is cruel, selfish and particulary deranged, as shown by his flair for torture and carelessness with human life. There is another part where the "pale man" captures a couple fairies and bloodily bites off their heads.
While I personally do not enjoy such gluttony for gore, I have to admit the scenes added more depth and desperation to the plight of the heroine. I enjoyed the struggle of the rebellion, and the single-minded Borg-like ruthlessness of the "bad guys" seemed appropriate. I found myself wanting to see more quests, and more interaction with the mystical book given to Ofelia. The faun was one of the better ones I have seen in a while, and while writing up this review I just realized (from the Spanish) that Pan is the faun. Duh!
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