Pan's Labyrinth (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

I am sure you have already heard plenty about Guillermo del Toro's highly acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth but I doubt many of you have seen it due to its limited release schedule around the United States, which means you are going to be faced with what looks like and has been touted as a masterpiece and the decision on whether or not to buy it blindly or just give it a rental one Saturday night. I can't tell you this is a must buy film, even though others will tell you you would be silly not to buy this movie. Visually Pan's Labyrinth is stunning, from a story-telling perspective it is one of a kind and del Toro has taken painstaking efforts to see that every inch of this film is thought out to the last detail. However, this picture is highly metaphorical and I don't think it will be for everyone, even if you do fall in love with the special effects.

Pan's Labyrinth is described by del Toro as his follow-up to The Devil's Backbone, and interesting and very good film he made back in 2001 set during the last days of the Spanish Civil War. Pan picks up five years later in 1944 Spain and focuses on Ofelia, a young girl who finds herself in an overwhelming situation faced with her pregnant and sick mother and her adoptive father, an overbearing military officer who you will be hard-pressed to find any decent qualities.

Ofelia soon finds herself lost in a world of fantasy, a world which coincides and, in several respects, mirrors the real world. This fantasy world helps Ofelia make sense of what is going on around her and is Del Toro's device to take the viewing audience on a journey that while fantastical has a brutal level of realism inside of it.

Each actor is fantastic in this film, especially young Ivana Baquero who plays Ofelia. The entire story depends on her ability to portray several different emotions and she nails every single one. The goat-like figure seen on the DVD cover is only known in the film as the faun, a character Del Toro reminds us in the featurettes on the second disc is not the title character Pan. Guillermo says, "The character of the faun in the movie is not Pan; Pan would be too dangerous a character to put in a fable like this... Pan is only the translation of the international title of the film." This serves as one more example as to how thought out this entire movie is. I am sure you could sit down with Guillermo and he could tell you the back story to every inch of this film and a lot of that is evident in his audio commentary.

Whether you decide to buy this DVD or not I can confirm for anyone wondering about this 2-disc special edition that it contains a wealth of information in regards to the making of the film and everything inside of it. Along with an extensive and detailed audio commentary by del Toro you get a second disc packed with featurettes that dig into every aspect of the making of the film, the special effects, the inspiration and everything down to even the various color palettes used to depict different moods and atmospheres during the picture. Along with the featurettes one of the more interesting goodies is the director's notebook feature in which you will look at a variety of pages from del Toro's personal notes and drawings and occasionally be offered the chance to watch a featurette based on what you are seeing, explaining what was going through the writer-director's mind at the time he wrote or drew what you are seeing on screen. The rest of the disc is packed with a group of storyboards; visual effects plate comparisons as Del Toro does a fairy test walkthrough to help guide the camera to the DVD-ROM features which include the script for the film and synchronized storyboards and photo galleries while you watch the film.

If you are a special feature junky this is a DVD you have to buy, but I will say the commentary actually became a bit too much information for me. Del Toro hits you right and left for the entire hour and 52 minutes of the film with so much information your head will spin, this guy is a passionate filmmaker and it shows through in his movies, but it really wore me out. If you aren't big on features then there is no need to buy the 2-disc edition, there is a single disc edition that includes the commentary and the DVD-ROM screenplay as its special features.

Now, whether you should buy this DVD or not is a toss up. If you have a problem with subtitles you may as well give up, because the entire film is in Spanish and uses English subtitles. However, that Spanish language track is offered in DTS and sounds amazing. At one point during his commentary Del Toro points out his opinion on sound design and it really shows through in this picture. My suggestion would be to rent it, and if you do like it then definitely buy it because there is enough stuff inside this movie that you can have a different experience with it almost every time.