I cannot recommend this film highly enough. It's beautiful. It's very, very sad. Yet it has hope...you can feel for Ofelia...you can feel her hope and wonderment. In fact, if you don't like subtitles, go and take Spanish, and then rent this film in its native tongue and enjoy it. You cannot miss it.

I watched this film full of anticipation, and it did blow me away- what an inventive, brilliant movie! Something of this originality and genre is one of the rarest I have witnessed by far. The true ongoing story of the Spanish 'Maquis' nearing the end of WW2 mixed with Ofelio's quest in a magical world doesnt blend, has stark differences and is told beautifully from both angles. I do, however, believe this is in the majority an adult drama, followed then by an adult fantasy. Unmissable for all movie fans.

Pan's Labyrinth is a fantastic story looking into how a young girl copes with the trauma that Post-war repression in Spain brings.
It is at times violent, but this is not intended to disgust the audience and is a good representation of these times of Civil war.
The subtitles are not an issue and if anything I think they add to the film, i'd rather hear the Spanish people talking Spanish than English.
It is a very creative way of expressing how people view the terrible facist regime in Spain of the time.