Review Pan's Laburinth

Open the scene on a shot of a little girl, she draws a doorway in chalk on her bedroom wall and it leads her into a magnificent dining hall. There is a long table laden with masses of food, a banquet. Sat, motionless at the end of the table is a man, or not. A pale eyeless creature, thin, with fearsome looking claws. On a small plate in front of it are too eyes, the girl waves at it but it does not move. The girl turns to look at pictures on the wall. When she turns back the creature has leaned forward. I'll bet you want to know what happens next.
All I'll tell you is it's not pretty. Pan's labyrinth is a fairty tale with a dark side. I can't really tell what its target audience is but one thing is certain, it's not for kids. Full stop. For starters it's set in spain during the revolution of the 1930s, anyone who knows their history can tell you it was a very horrible period. It trancends a link between two worlds, the girl Ofelia, is trying to escape a world dominated by the totalliterian forces, regualeted, for her part, by her evil step father, and he is a really nasty piece of work. The other world is that of Pan, a peculiar faun who deems her as the princess of his world, and issues her three tasks to complete in order to claim her throne. To be honest there really isn't that much I can tell you shy of that, without ruining the twisting, turning story line.
In light of that I'll summarise, Pan's Labyrinth is a brilliant film, but don't delve into it thinking its a laid back fairy tale. It. Is. Not. Sixty per cent of it is in the real world, it's brutal, scary and reminds you of the horror of the human race. Don't even think you're getting a 'nightmare before christmas-esque' darkened fairy tale, because it's really, really intense.